We can beat breast cancer
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The fight against ” cancer is an ongoing battle
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - we celebrate with those who have won their fight against this all-toopervasive disease and mourn the brave women (and men) whom we have lost. Our hearts go out to the many people battling breast cancer and to their families and friends and carers who stand by their sides.
O ur hearts going out is not enough. We can and we will beat cancer, but that means we have to invest in research and take the policy decisions necessary.
In Malta and Gozo, 300 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Almost every day, someone receives that lifechanging diagnosis. However, since 2005, Malta has implemented processes to ensure that every woman diagnosed with breast cancer has the best shot at beating this aggressive disease.
Early detection is imperative in the effective treatment of breast cancer, which is why we introduced biennial screenings in 2009 for women between the ages of 50 and 68 years old.
These screenings, along with holistic medical care, have contributed to 87 per cent of women with breast cancer being declared cancer-free after five years. Malta has the highest breast cancer survival rates in the European Union, but there are many women across Europe who still do not have access to the level of care provided here.
The average European survival rate is 79.5 per cent, but some Member States fall well below this level. Differences in survival rates across Europe reflect a failure of Europe to band together and develop strategies to ensure the best possible care for every woman in Europe diagnosed with breast cancer.
There must be better coordination between Member States against something that will affect over 40 per cent of Europeans in their lifetime. This issue impacts us all—there is hardly a person in Europe whose life has not been touched by cancer.
In the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Partit Nazzjonalista, we support all efforts to fight inconsistencies and disparities in cancer screening and treatment across Europe. The magnitude and severity of breast cancer cases demand that breast cancer must be elevated to a health policy priority for everyone. Within the EPP. we have created a ten-point master plan on cancer. Not only does this plan seek to increase cancer prevention measures, but it also encompasses a common European strategy for early detection, cancer research, and treatment.
In the Parliament we have launched a European-wide campaign on transforming breast cancer entitled “Transforming Breast Cancer Together.” This initiative aims to improve services for patients in an area of still high unmet need and reduce the societal impact of breast cancer to improve breast cancer prevention, diagnosis and care across Europe.
Incoming European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen has made beating cancer part of her holistic plan for the next legislature. Her “Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan” and the commitment of Commissioner-elect of health Stella Kyriakides are necessary steps by the Commission to increase both dialogue and action regarding cancer.
Across Europe there is also strong support for intensified action on the prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer. In the Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on which I sit, we have prioritised the creation of a non-permanent committee on cancer. A committee dedicated strictly to cancer would have the time and resources to conduct a number of hearings, listen to experts and scientists, hear from cancer patients themselves, and determine the best ways to address the problems in the best possible way.
We need to move away from rhetoric and platitudes and shift our thinking towards investing in cancer-beating research, support our scientists and our doctors.
The fight against cancer is an ongoing battle. We can not allow the struggle against breast cancer to fall by the wayside. We will keep fighting and we will win.