Breast cancer real threat to RI’s women: Minister

JAKARTA: Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar says breast cancer is a real threat in Indonesia with 26 in every 100,000 women affected, according to Global Burden of Cancer data.

The Hospital Information System in 2007 showed that breast cancer cases accounted for 21.7 percent of cancer in women, higher than cervical cancer at 17 percent. Breast cancer incidents at Dharmais Hospital also rose from 221 cases in 2003 to 657 in 2008.

“Unfortunately, 60 to 70 percent of patients only began treatment after their cancer had reached advanced stages,” Linda said as quoted by Antara.

A survey by the Breast Health Foundation in 2005 showed that 80 percent of respondents did not realize the importance of early cancer detection. Linda said with the increasing cases of breast cancer, the disease was a real threat.

She said the ministry was trying to provide women living in rural areas with access to mammography, a method to detect early stage breast cancer. — JP