2023-10-02 13:01:00
It is important to devote time to raising women’s awareness of the issues surrounding female cancers and encouraging them to get screened. This is the main objective of Pink October.
Each year, the month of October is an opportunity to recall the importance of regular screening for female cancers (breast and cervical cancer). “Organized screening remains a powerful weapon in the fight once morest the disease,” insists Doctor Caline Ngounou Nzietchueng, the doctor responsible for the Aveyron branch of the Regional Cancer Screening Coordination Center (CRCDC).
“It allows cancer to be detected early, thus offering a higher chance of cure.” However, the participation rate in organized screening does not yet reach the objectives necessary to significantly reduce mortality. In Aveyron, it rises to 47.3% (44.70% in 2022) for breast cancer, which remains the leading cause of death among women.
Faced with this public health issue, the Aveyron site, one of the twelve in Occitanie, of the CRCDC, is involved alongside other structures, associations and relays such as health centers, CPTS (Professional Communities health authorities), town halls, municipal social action centers, Esat (establishment and service of assistance through work) for people with disabilities, etc., in awareness-raising actions, to promote and encourage women to take part in this prevention approach.
What are your missions ?
We are mandated by the State and Health Insurance to both implement cancer screening programs and ensure prevention. We are recipients of the files of insured persons, that is to say people affected by mass screening. We therefore invite, by letter, target people aged 50 to 74, for breast cancer, to make an appointment in an imaging center to benefit from their mammogram and especially from a double medical opinion.
The challenge is also to raise awareness of other cancers that affect women?
Quite. Pink October is not just regarding breast cancer. It is important to talk regarding all female cancers such as cervical cancer, for 25-65 year olds, which is the only one that can benefit from preventive vaccination. But here once more it is not accepted in morals so we must continue to get the message across so that young girls and boys get vaccinated for prevention once morest the papillomavirus (HPV). Finally, we also target women and men aged 50 to 74 for colorectal screening, the second widespread program in France since 2008.
Prevention, through screening, is your hobby horse, even more so today in the face of increasing waiting times to obtain an appointment?
Prevention is transversal with regular physical activity, a change in some of our lifestyle habits, our eating behaviors, etc. Without being moralistic, it is important to act on our daily behavior. In any case, at the current rate of progression of chronic diseases, no health system in the world will be able to deal with them in a sustainable manner. We must therefore invest in the field of prevention. The length and quality of our lives depend in part on the choices we make every day. Screening is a powerful weapon in the fight once morest cancer. A letter is sent to women aged 50 and over to arrange for their mammogram. This letter, which serves as a prescription, allows 100% coverage of the mammogram, without upfront costs.
“The length and quality of our lives depend in part on the choices we make every day”
By participating in the organized screening, women have the opportunity to have a second reading. Concretely, when the radiologist makes his diagnosis with a normal result, he informs the patient of the transmission of her file to the CRCDC for a second reading, a second medical opinion, for greater security. Our role is also to reach out to people who do not respond and target them to get tested.
Yes, today there are waiting times and a lack of resources to enable screening to be carried out within the recommended time frame. This is why I work in close collaboration with health professionals. But it is true that not being able to get an appointment can be discouraging. Women in this situation should not hesitate to call us.
Is Aveyron a good student?
We are making progress. Regarding breast cancer screening, we have never been this high even if we are still far from the objective of reaching 70%. We had reached 50% in 2018 before Covid. So we can get there. In 2001, participation in screening was 36%.
“The League Against Cancer carries out interventions in schools”
Do you work jointly with the Cancer Screening Awareness Committee and the Cancer League?
For better care, it is important to keep in mind that there are several of us working around the patient. We work with the Cancer Screening Awareness Committee which focuses on prevention, health and the environment. And the League Against Cancer which carries out interventions in schools on the prevention of cancer in relation to diet, tobacco and the danger of screens. It also intervenes in the post-cancer period.
Why are women resistant to screening?
There are several explanations. First, the fear of finding something; then, negligence in postponing the examinations to be carried out; finally, the fear of pain, especially during mammography. But we must continue the mobilization.
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