The World Health Organization presented the World Initiative against Breast Cancer on Monday, with the aim of reducing global mortality from breast cancer by 2.5 percent per year until 2040, thus avoiding some 2.5 million deaths .
In recognition of International Women’s Day, the WHO also organizes a promotional event ‘Listening to the call of women with breast cancer’, during which the new Initiative will be presented to the global oncology community.
“While we have seen substantial progress in reducing breast cancer mortality in many high-income countries over the past two decades, little progress has been made in low- and middle-income countries. Higher mortality in these low-income countries it is the result of late diagnosis and inadequate access to quality care. Together we can address this unacceptable inequality, “said Bente Mikkelsen, Director of the WHO Department of Noncommunicable Diseases.
Survival from breast cancer five years after diagnosis is already over 80 percent in most high-income countries, compared with 66 percent in India and only 40 percent in South Africa. “Premature deaths and high costs that arise when breast cancer services are not available or affordable cause social disruption, impoverishment, family instability and orphaned children, and also threaten economic growth,” says WHO.
In this sense, they detail that the importance of facing this situation is even more urgent if one takes into account that breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer as the most diagnosed cancer in the world, and is responsible for one in every six deaths cancer among women, according to statistics published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in December 2020.
Through this new initiative, WHO, working in unison with other United Nations agencies and partner organizations, will provide guidance to governments on how to strengthen breast cancer diagnosis and treatment systems, which in turn is expected leading to improved capacities to manage other types of cancer.
“Through the initiative, global partners, experts and other organizations will be convened to map existing activities, develop roadmaps and establish multisectoral working groups to address health promotion and early detection, timely diagnosis of cancer of breast and comprehensive breast cancer treatment and supportive care The demand for a global approach, bringing together the best knowledge about breast cancer control from around the world, is high, as is enthusiasm for what it can be done, “argues Ben Anderson, who leads the work of the new Initiative at WHO.
Health promotion, the first pillar, will include public education on the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, risk reduction strategies (such as avoiding obesity, limiting alcohol consumption and encouraging breastfeeding) and reducing of the stigma associated with breast health that exists in some parts of the world.
In the same way, they defend that the timely diagnosis of breast cancer should reduce the delays between the moment in which the patient interacts for the first time with the health system and the start of breast cancer treatment. “Although breast tumors do not change in days or weeks, cancer survival rates begin to erode when delays in starting treatment exceed three months. Current delays in some settings and among certain vulnerable populations may be longer. one year. Basic diagnostic services are feasible in all settings, provided they are well organized and lead to timely referral to specialized care, “says the United Nations international health agency.
On the other hand, they point out that the treatment and comprehensive care of breast cancer should include access to surgery, chemotherapy and / or radiotherapy, as well as support for the rehabilitation of women after treatment and palliative services for reduce pain and discomfort.
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