Bogotá, Oct 16 (EFE).- Within the framework of the month of awareness about breast cancerhealth experts remember that early detection can increase survival by up to 90%. This message takes on special relevance in a territory like Latin Americawhere this type of cancer is the most diagnosed among women.
According to recent data from Globocan Cancer Observatoryin 2022 more than 220,124 new cases of breast cancer were recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean, resulting in almost 59,876 deaths, alarming figures that underline the urgent need to improve early detection rates and access to treatment in the region.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in its information sheets for professionals in the field, details that a large part of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the early stages, if they receive adequate treatment, have a good prognosis, with survival rates 5 years from 80% to 90%. But in many Latin American countries, women are diagnosed at late stages, complicating treatment and reducing chances of survival.
Although there may be multiple factors, the low percentage is attributed, in part, to a lack of knowledge and distrust of the mammographywhere surprisingly, 51% of women surveyed consider breast self-examination to be the most effective method of detection, when in reality mammography can detect abnormalities long before they are palpable.
Because of this, PAHO recommends that women at average risk of breast cancer begin having mammograms at age 40, repeating them every two years until they reach age 74.
Even today, the panorama has many challenges and unknowns to face since, according to what was revealed by a recent study by the Avon Foundation, only 46% of women over 40 years of age in Latin America undergo mammograms annually.
Campaign seeks to raise awareness about the use of mammography
The challenge for reduce mortality breast cancer in Latin America has many variables, which is why it is necessary to implement and maintain education and early detection programs, guarantee timely access to appropriate treatments and eliminate barriers to medical care.
To stop the paradigms and myths that surround the use of the mammogram, Roche Latin America has launched the #CitasImperdibles campaign, with which it tries to raise awareness about the importance of regular check-ups and timely access to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
This Roche initiative is part of a much broader self-care effort, called ‘X Project’, which addresses gender gaps in healthwhich states that by 2040, 137 million women will be too sick to work full-time.
‘X Project’ seeks to emphasize that women’s health care is not just a personal and individual matter, but has a significant impact on families and communities, where women, who represent more than 75% of the workforce in the health sector and are the main decision makers about family care, they often neglect their own well-being and get sick 25% more than men.
On its website, the project gathers evidence that allows us to learn more about this problem of women’s self-care and “raises difficult conversations, generating long-term commitment and initiative to drive meaningful change through partnerships, funding and action to help close gaps in women’s health and achieve better health outcomes for all.”
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