2024-02-04 21:14:56
“Cancer does not discriminate but the possibility of access to diagnosis and treatment does. And it makes the difference.” Prevention is in fact fundamental, “today we also know that especially in the field of breast cancer, as well as colon cancer or other oncological pathologies, we can prevent over a third of cases”. Daniela Terribile, oncologist president of Komen Italia, an association for the fight against breast cancer, which has among its initiatives the ‘Prevention Caravan’, a national itinerant promotion program, reminds Adnkronos Salute on National Cancer Day. of women’s health which offers free checks and information on the main gender-related oncological pathologies, in particular to women in conditions of social and economic fragility.
In the oncology field “the difficulty of accessing diagnostic programs – he explains – is clearly present in situations of social and economic disadvantage in our country. On the other hand, even adhering to national screening itself has encountered these difficulties, that is, women with lower socio-economic level and less educated, they are less inclined to take care of their health and to know the importance of prevention which can also prevent the appearance of cancer in over a third of cases”. Furthermore, today “even when the disease is diagnosed – continues the expert – we are able to cure over 30% of these pathologies, in such a valid way as to achieve a survival rate of over 90%. This however – she underlines – passes through a series of measures, starting from primary prevention, which means knowing and adopting appropriate lifestyles. This alone would lead to a very significant reduction in cases.”
We then need “secondary prevention, i.e. the earliest possible diagnoses, which also allow for less aggressive treatments and better survival”, adds Terribile, underlining Komen Italia’s commitment on these two fronts through the ‘Prevention Caravan ‘ with which “in these 7 years we have covered almost all of Italy. We have been in 17 Regions and have offered over 900 days of prevention, around 200 thousand free services. We have always favored the most disadvantaged areas in terms of prevention where the There is no mammogram and these services are often far away and difficult to reach. We went to small rural areas, small islands, villages now inhabited only by elderly people who perhaps don’t have the possibility, don’t have anyone to take them to carry out these tests. But we have also filmed in the marginal areas of large cities, suburbs and suburbs where, for example, there are very closed ethnic communities where women hardly do prevention”.
On the outskirts of cities, the oncologist recalls, “pockets of poverty are increasingly nestling, not only social and economic but also cultural”. In all these marginal areas “providing cancer prevention is very difficult”, for this reason as Komen Italia “we realized that in addition to talking about it, we had to act and bring home, bring a prevention offer close to these areas”.
The Caravan, with its equipped mobile units, offers: tests (mammograms, breast ultrasounds, gynecological ultrasounds and Pap tests, and clinical visits) for the early diagnosis of breast and cervical cancers for women who due to age or other criteria are not included in the screening programs of the National Health Service; specialist consultations and secondary prevention diagnostic tests (such as thyroid ultrasounds, dermatological visits with epiluminescence) for other female pathologies currently not covered by NHS screening programmes; practical workshops and educational sessions to promote physical activity, well-being and correct nutrition to encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles.
And again: ad hoc programs to help patients who have experienced an oncological disease to recover full psychophysical well-being and the best return to active life (psychological support consultancy, nutritional consultancy, physiotherapy consultancy, legal consultancy); events to raise awareness of health issues and promote sport and physical activity for lower and high school students.
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