According to the World Health Organization, “Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and the most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide.”. Data indicate that in the Americas, this type of cancer accounted for nearly a quarter of new cancer cases in 2020, for which Latin America and the Caribbean showed a 32 percent rate of women affected by the disease before age 50, a higher percentage, compared to North America, which accounts for 19%.
When we talk about this type of cancer, which is the most common in the world, we generally focus on prevention, but very rarely do we talk about incidence that this has in the different types of race that exist.
In Colombia we have Afro-descendant, raizal, black, palenquere and indigenous women, populations who are not exempt from breast cancer and who, on the contrary, have a higher percentage of developing serious illnesses.
According to breastcancer.org, all women have a percentage chance of getting breast cancer, for example in the US the average risk for women is 12%. However, according to a study conducted with African American women, it has been proven that these women have specific factors that may increase the likelihood of disease incidence.
Typically, breast cancer is detected through a mammogram, and while ideally all populations would have access to this type of specialized analysis, according to the study “Mammography Services Availability in Colombia” from the Colombian Journal of CancerologyNationwide, 23 percent of Colombian women aged 50-69 must leave their apartment of residence to receive mammography service, which has a direct impact on breast cancer outcomes in the country.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warns that “each year in the Americas, more than 462,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, and nearly 100,000 die from this disease. If current trends continue, by 2030, the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer is projected to increase by 34 percent in this same region.”
Therefore, specific actions need to be implemented to reduce these figures, including: the breast self-examinationimprove access to health care in vulnerable populations and maintain timely follow-up with medical personnel.
In this sense, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer together with Vive Afro magazine invite the community to join the educational campaign “Every Minute Counts”which aims to raise awareness among Afro-descendant and Indigenous women of the importance of prevention and early detection of breast cancer.
