A new Department of Health report has found that Clare men and women are among the least likely to avail of cancer screening programmes.
Coverage rates for breast, bowel and cervical screening here in Clare is less than the national average.
BowelScreen offers free bowel screening to men and women aged 60-69 through a home test kit.
It aims to detect early onset bowel cancer, of which there are around 2,300 cases in Ireland each year.
There is a target of 50% coverage under the programme, but in Clare, a new government report has found the figure for Clare stands at only 39.1%.
Only three counties have a lower rate, including Limerick and Tipperary.
The National Health Care Report also finds that the rates of screening for breast and cervical cancers among Clare women both stand at 73.9% here, and are both behind the national figures, although the county statistic for breast cancer doesn’t include adjustments, such as for women who are excluded from the programme.
The report finds that MMR immunisation rates in Clare, at 93%, are two points higher than the national average although take up of the MenC vaccine, at 84%, is three per cent back on the national figure.
