Experts Call for Breast Cancer Treatment Aid in 3rd World

Breast cancer diagnoses rates have increased over 3 percent annually, but the greatest global burden still rests on the shoulders of low-income countries, who report the highest numbers of late diagnoses and deaths. Experts are calling for the world to aid undeveloped countries in making breast cancer diagnoses and treatment more widely available.

Professor Peter Boyle, director of the University of Strathclyde Institute of Global Public Health at the International Prevention Research Institute in France, revealed the latest recorded figures on breast cancer at the 9th European Breast Cancer Conference on Friday.

According to the statistics, there are approximately 450,000 recorded breast cancer related deaths around the world annually. Meanwhile number of diagnosed cases of breast cancer is increasing at a rate of 3.1 percent every 12 months.

This is actually good news. If the death rate has remained stable even when the number of diagnoses rises, this only means that the number of early diagnoses has increased, catching the cancer early enough so that it can be treated and survived.

However, Boyle explained that the majority of new diagnoses come from developed countries, while both the diagnoses and death rates in undeveloped countries has remained largely unchained for the greater part of the last decade.

Research from Boyle's institute backed this claim, in "The World Breast Cancer Report 2012," which provided statistics that revealed that the great majority of initial diagnoses of breast cancer made in low-income countries were made during advanced stages of the disease when chances of survival are already slim.

Boyle and his associates urged world health officials to help increase the availability of effectiveness of diagnosis procedures in undeveloped countries to help lower the global death rate.

"It is clear that our first priority should be to do all we can to encourage women in low-income countries to present to their doctor before their breast cancer is at such an advanced stage that cure is no longer possible," Boyle said.

A preliminary press release about the presentation was published on March 18.