/IPS ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN/ CUBA: High Incidence of Breast Cancer in Cuban Women

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, May 17 1997 (IPS) - Breast cancer is increasingly affecting more Cuban women, and causing more deaths, cancer specialists report.

bd more amIn Cuba, nearly 17 of every 100 thousand women die of breast cancr. According to cancer specialists, this is the highest mortality rate registered by any malignancy affecting Cuban women.

Maria Luisa Buch, the head of Cuba’s National Program for the early Detection and Treatment of Breast cancer, says 37 of every 100,000 women suffer from breast cancer “and the rate is increasing.” She said cancer was responsible for 17 deaths in every 100,000 women here.

Some 600 health specialists examned the problem last week at the 10th National Gynecology and Obstetrics Congress, held in Havana in conjunction with the Third Congress of Perinatolgy and Family Planning.

Among Cuba’s 11 million inhabitants, malignant tumors are the second leading cause of death after heart disease. In 1995, nearly 8,500 men and more than 6,000 women died of cancer.

According to last year’s Cuban Statistical Yearbook, published by the National Statistics Office, life expectancy for newborn Cuban females is now 76.8 years, whereas men can expect to live 72.8 years.

Buch says that although breast cancer is the foremost affliction of Cuban women, lung, cervical, colon and uterine cancer follow as significant causes of death. Specialists estimate that by the year 2,000 breast cancer will strike down 2,000 women every year – most of them in Havana.

Typically, breas cancer is highst in socio-economically developed nations and, since Cuba’s most developed zone is centered in the capital, doctors are not surprised the city has the island’s highest incidence of breast cancer.

In the developed economies, where breast cancer is most frequently found, women tend to continue educational studies longer and, in following a career, tend to delay having children.

Socio-economically advanced women also breastfeed less frequently, smoke more and eat a dietwith a high percentage of fat, experts said. And, although the incidence of breast cancer was higher in these conditions the cause of the cause was still unknown

Overall, Latin American women are susceptible more to cervical cancer than breast cancer. However, the frequency of the latter is increasing each year.

It is predicted that by 2000, one million women around the world will contract breast cancer annually. Of this global total, 60 percent will be of Latin American origin, the conferemnce heard. If breast cancer was detected before it extended to the lymph nodes or some other part of the body, there was a 95 percent chance of a cure through appropriate medical intervention.

Buch stated that “the goal of the Cuban breast cancer program is to diminish mortality as soon as we can.”

The Cuban breast cancer program utilizes three diagnostic methods: clinical breast examination by a community-based doctor, self-examination and mammography.

According to Cuban health authorities, there has been a recent decline in the frequency with which advanced breast cancer has been detected, while malignancies of lower morbidity are beginning appear to more frequently.

Cuban medical personnel report that despite the free national health care system which can provide early diagnosis in almost all cases, the ready availability of health care must still contend with the fear and ignorance of breast cancer which still hold sway over many Cuban women.

Cuban health authorities say that if all women-at-risk availed themselves of clinical breast examination at their primary health care center, more than 85 percent of all breast cancers would be detected in the early stages.