Illustrative image (Source: VNA) ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City on October 15 to launch the campaign
entitled “Screening for at the age of 40”.
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 percent 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
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 percent. In the second
stage, the rate is 60 percent while in the fourth stage, the treatment only
prolongs patients’ life.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
