Breast cancer screening campaign launched
A ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City on October 15 to launch the campaign entitled “Screening for breast cancer at the age of 40”.
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Speaking at the event, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien warned that around 12,500 new cases of breast cancer are detected each year in Vietnam, accounting for 25% of the total cancer cases in women. More seriously, breast cancer cases are discovered at younger ages.
During the campaign, co-organised by the Health Ministry and the Support Fund for Cancer Victims – For a Bright Future from October 14 – November 11, hospitals having cancer departments in Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City will offer free health check-ups and ultrasound scan to 10,000 women aged above 40 suspected of suffering breast cancer.
They include K, Bach Mai and Hanoi Oncology Hospitals in the capital city of Hanoi, Hue Central Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, Cho Ray Hospital and Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Centre.
The campaign also brings the medical services to women in Kim Chung commune in Hanoi’s outlying district of Dong Anh, several localities in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Phu Tho and Ha Nam, and firms such as Garment 10 Corporation, Viet Thang garment company, Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, Tay Bac Cu Chi industrial park, and Sai Gon Sapuwa pure water company.
According to the Health Ministry, there were 12,533 cases of breast cancer in 2010. The figure is forecast to rise to 22,612 by 2020. Each year, around 4,500 die of the disease.
If the disease is discovered in the first stage, the survival rate could reach over 80%. In the second stage, the rate is 60% while in the fourth stage, the treatment only prolongs patients’ life.
