“Time poverty”, an enemy of early detection of breast cancer

The “time poverty” suffered by womenon whom traditionally the care of the family falls, constitutes one of the stumbling blocks for an early detection of the breast cancervital to overcome the disease, as revealed in the II Women’s Forum: Cancer and Society held in Santo Domingo.

The overload of tasks, together with ignorance, the lack of habit of going to annual check-ups or the scarcity of economic resources means that 60% of breast cancer diagnoses are made at a very advanced stage, the experts explained during the event organized by the Mujeres Solidarias organization and by Roche laboratories.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malignant breast tumors represent a quarter of cancer cases in women and are the leading cause of cancer death in the female population.

However, if 60% of invasive malignancies were diagnosed at an early stage, breast cancer mortality could be reduced by at least 2% over at least three years.

From the age of 45, women must undergo annual mammograms, the main diagnostic method of the disease, of which 2.26 million new cases were detected in 2020, and that more than 680,000 failed to overcome, according to WHO data at the national level. international.

Check yourself!

The health authorities of the Dominican Republic are committed to early detection through the Uniendo Voluntades program and its slogan Check yourself!, an initiative that began in 2021 and is led by the doctor Blanca Conigliaro, from the National Health Service.

The program was launched after carrying out a survey (verification of the situation) in the first level health care centers in the country, which constitute the gateway to medical services for a population that lacks information, resources and knowledge, Conigliaro explained.

In these two years of program activity, also focused on the early diagnosis of cervical and prostate cancer, work has been done “with more than 65,000 patients”bringing basic, direct and specific attention to “the slightly scattered population that does not have the same education and awareness” about the importance of medical check-ups, said the expert.

Data shows that a woman who is diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer has more than a 95% chance of being alive five years later, but timely diagnosis is only the first step, because the inability to afford treatment can become on a death sentence.

expensive treatments

Uninterrupted multimodal treatment is critical to beating cancer. In the Dominican Republic, there is a High Cost Drug Program that has experienced a significant budget increase, going from 2,700 million pesos (about US$48 million) in 2020 to 8,000 million (about US$142 million) in 2023, he said. the Vice Minister of Collective Health, Eladio Pérez.

40% of the program’s budget is directed exclusively to cancer, 41% goes to autoimmune diseases and the rest to other types of care, with Social Security coverage per patient that has gone from 1 million to 2 million pesos ( from about $17,700 to $35,500).

However, the treatment of breast cancer can be much more expensive, so when that amount from Social Security is exhausted, the Ministry of Public Health provides or delivers the medicines, with a budget ceiling, but under the premise that “Every patient who enters is guaranteed treatment” until it is finished, Pérez said.

Mental health and psychological support

Beyond the treatment itself after diagnosis, breast cancer patients have other needs, beginning with psychological care, support that, on occasions, must be extended to the family.

That’s why it’s important “to ensure that Social Security strengthens that component of mental health”, indicated the vice minister, taking into account the psychological sequelae left by some diseases, such as those of an oncological type.

“Sometimes people die of anguish and not of the disease”I note.

Peréz recalled that cancer can last for years and that, in the end, “anguish, depression, eating or even related suicide, is what kills him” to the patient.

This emotional support can be especially necessary in women who have had their breasts removed, although with the increase in coverage for high-cost treatments, it has been possible to include breast reconstruction, a great step for women’s self-esteem. who have managed to beat this cancer.

Source: EFE