The Government of Alberta has agreed to put another C$2 million into the province’s lung cancer screening program. The pilot initiative was first launched in 2022 with the aim of reaching residents in remote, rural and Indigenous communities.
Alongside the government funding announced on Friday, the Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF) has agreed to spend half a million on the program’s continuation. Alberta currently lacks a permanent screening program for lung cancer like it has for colon, breast or cervical cancer despite the fact that the respiratory disease kills more people than those three combined.
The news follows Alberta’s government regulators investing C$1.5 million into mobile lung cancer screening trucks last September to augment the provincial program. The sum was matched by the ACF, enabling an aggregate contribution of C$3 million.
This non-profit charity is also known for funding an extensive lung cancer screening study completed in the province between 2014-2020 with 800 subjects.
To date, Alberta’s screening campaign has assessed more than 3,800 eligible patients and detected a significant number of cases in their early stages with low-dose CT scan machines.
“We welcome the Alberta government’s new investment to extend the #LungCancerScreening program for another year while work moves forward to make the program permanent,” commented Lung Cancer Canada — another charitable organization.
“We’ll keep pushing for equitable screening across the country, but today we celebrate the important momentum in AB!”
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About 2,700 Albertans will be diagnosed with the disease throughout 2025.
The overall five-year survival rate for those in the province is about 28 per cent, highlighting the need for improvements to the current screening regimen.
“We’re making progress, with more people in Alberta surviving lung cancer than ever before, but more work remains,” Alberta’s health minister, Adriana LaGrange, said in a government news release.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Alberta—yet over 70% of cases are caught too late, when treatment is less effective.
Unlike breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer, there’s still no province-wide lung cancer screening program. It’s time to change that.… pic.twitter.com/uvMlcvHnLE
— Brian Jean (@BrianJeanAB) May 17, 2025
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