He breast cancer It is the most common among women and is a disease that represents a socioeconomic problem due to the high costs involved in its treatment. According to the Global Cancer Observatory (Globocan), the incidence in the Dominican Republic is 59.1 per 100,000 and mortality is 26.4%.
According to the data, 65% of the patients in the Dominican Republic arrive in advanced stages, which means a barrier to the comprehensive approach to the disease. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if 60% of invasive cancers are diagnosed at an early stage for at least three years, mortality could be reduced by at least 2%. “We have to change this,” said the president of the Solidarity Women Association, Norka Díaz, within the framework of the second Women, Cancer and Society Forum.
According to Globocan, in 2020, 3,412 new cases and 1,577 people died from this disease in the country. Likewise, it calculates that by 2040 the figure could exceed 5,000 new cases.
For her part, the National Coordinator of Health Interventions of the National Health Service (SNS), Blanca Conigliaro, indicated that the data collected by the Early Cancer Detection program show that the number of patients screened amounts to 65,478 from 2021 to date. Of this number, 152 people have been diagnosed in a timely manner.
The Vice Minister of Collective Health of the Ministry of Public Health, Eladio Pérez, highlighted that the country went from having an investment of US$1.6 million to almost US$3 million for the fight against cancer. However, he said that the amount is little money when compared to the economic resources needed to improve the quality of life.
Incidence
In fact, the WHO registered in 2020 more than 2.2 million cases of which it stands out that the majority come from low- and middle-income countries. Worldwide, about 685,000 women died as a result of the disease and it is estimated that around one in 12 women will suffer from breast cancer throughout her life.
As for the region of the Americas, it represented almost a quarter of the new cases of breast cancer in 2020, according to the Pan American Health Organization. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the proportion of women affected by the disease before the age of 50 corresponds to 32%, a figure that exceeds the 19% of North America.