Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-05-Speech-4-028"
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"en.20030605.1.4-028"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I wish to start by thanking the Commissioner for her words, which demonstrate the Commission’s commitment to addressing this serious public health problem together with the Member States, which have competence in the field of health.
The number of breast cancer cases has increased at a terrifying rate in the European Union. By way of example, I wish to draw attention to the fact that in Portugal, breast cancer is the main cause of death amongst women over 45 years of age. 3 500 new cases are diagnosed every year in my country, and every day five women die from this disease. Both a real political will and practical measures to improve this situation do exist, however. I therefore thank the rapporteur and congratulate her on her excellent report, which alerts us to the many worrying aspects of this specific type of cancer, both in Europe and throughout the world and urges us all to act urgently and make the fight against cancer one of the fundamental priorities of health policy in the European Union.
The challenge we face is drastically to reduce breast cancer mortality rates in Europe, but also to eliminate disparities between Member States where the quality of health care is concerned and, consequently, women’s chances of survival. We must therefore act at different levels:
firstly, prevention and screening. Awareness-raising campaigns must be promoted, to show that early diagnosis of the disease increases the probability that it can be cured. Member States must offer screenings at two-year intervals for women between the ages of 50 and 69 years, as recommended, in fact, in the European Guidelines for Mammography Screening;
secondly: diagnosis. All Member States must ensure that women are informed of the results of a mammography within five working days and wait no more than four weeks following diagnosis before treatment begins;
thirdly: treatment and follow-up. Women suffering from breast cancer must be treated by multidisciplinary teams that have received and continue to receive appropriate professional training. To help patients to get through the treatment phase as painlessly as possible, they must be given access to psychological support, physiotherapy and social services. After treatment, the stage of medical and emotional aftercare is crucial.
Lastly, I wish to end on a hopeful note and say that we will one day be able to defeat and eradicate this disease. Let us therefore make the best use not only of the EUR 400 million provided for cancer research by the sixth framework programme of research, but also of the new action programme in the field of public health (2003-2008), to develop innovative initiatives and projects."@en1
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