Screening saves lives: Pink October

“When you receive an invitation to a breast cancer screening, trust it. Don’t be scared to follow it up,” says Silvia Deandrea, director of the Lombardy area breast most cancers screening programme in Pavia, Italy. “It’s most likely your results won’t be serious.”  

Under her many job hats, Silvia runs a multidisciplinary workforce of nurses, neighborhood well being nurses, statisticians and well being professionals that coordinate medical most cancers care in native hospitals. “There’s no doubt we see that screening significantly reduces mortality, as well as the need for invasive interventions,” says Silvia.  

The advantages of early detection of breast most cancers via screening are highlighted on this 12 months’s ongoing Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a chance to reconfirm a world dedication to equitable entry to care and improved survival for all. Screening stays a year-round concern: presently, breast most cancers is essentially the most generally recognized most cancers amongst ladies worldwide.  

Under its Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the EU launched a brand new push in 2022 to extend the variety of screenings, protecting extra goal teams and extra cancers. For breast most cancers, the Commission will assist EU nations to extend screenings to 90% of these involved by the tip of this 12 months.

EU analysis has proven that the uptake of screening in EU nations is uneven, with some nations tending to indicate decrease participation. “Financial and economic issues play a factor in this,” says Silvia. “The cultural context also needs to be taken into consideration.” 

Public breast most cancers screening programmes like Silvia’s in Pavia are more and more widespread. “Public health officers set up these programmes based on EU guidelines. For us they are the Bible to which we refer. They are based on the best available evidence and provide a single place for standards.” 

If you want to organize a screening, discuss to your physician or name the native breast screening service to ask for an appointment. 

For extra data 

A most cancers plan for Europe 

Cancer screening, diagnosis and care

Cancer Inequalities Registry