The World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced a new collaborative effort, called the Global Breast Cancer Initiative that aims to decrease global breast cancer mortality by 2.5% per year until 2040, thus aiming to avert an estimated 2.5 million deaths.
In recognition of International Women’s Day, WHO has launched an advocacy event “Hearing the call of women with breast cancer” during which the new Initiative will be presented to the global cancer community.
Although we have seen substantive progress in reducing breast cancer mortality in many high-income countries during the last two decades, little progress has been made in low-and middle-income countries. “The higher mortality in these lower-income countries is a result of late-stage diagnosis and inadequate access to quality care.
Survival rates in high-income countries far exceed those in low-income countries: Breast cancer survival after five years of diagnosis is over 80% in most high-income countries, 66% in India and only 40% in South Africa.
The importance of addressing this situation has become all the more urgent given that breast cancer has now overtaken lung cancer as the world’s mostly commonly-diagnosed cancer, and is responsible for one in six of all cancer deaths among women, according to statistics released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in December 2020.
Three pillars to curb the menace of Breast Cancer:
- Health promotion and early detection: It includes public education about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, risk reduction strategies (such as avoiding obesity, limiting alcohol intake and encouraging breastfeeding), and reducing the stigma associated with breast health that exists in some parts of the world.
- Timely breast cancer diagnosis: should reduce delays between the time a patient first interacts with the health system and the initiation of breast cancer treatment. Although breast tumours do not change in days or weeks, cancer survival rates begin to erode when delays to initiate treatment are greater than three months. Access to well-organized basic diagnostic services and timely referral for specialist care is paramount.
- Comprehensive treatment and care: Access to Primary treatment for breast cancer which includes-surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy as well as rehabilitation support for women following treatment. Equally important are palliative services to reduce pain and discomfort.
https://www.who.int/news/item/08-03-2021-new-global-breast-cancer-initiative-highlights-renewed-commitment-to-improve-survival