Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-10-24-Speech-2-029"
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"en.20061024.5.2-029"2
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"Madam President, I would like to begin by thanking Mrs Jöns for her great commitment and for having got to grips with this tremendously important issue.
As Mrs Jöns has already said, this is the most common form of cancer among women. It is also the most common cause of death among women aged between 35 and 59. What is more, we know that breast cancer is on the increase among younger women and that the chances of detecting the disease vary a very great deal from one EU Member State to another, as do opportunities for breast-screening. I know from my own country, Sweden, where breast-screening has been available for many years to women in certain age groups, that such screening has reduced the death rate amongst women and that it is important to detect the disease early in order to provide the right treatment. All of this means that the efforts mentioned in the resolutions discussed by Mrs Jöns are incredibly important.
Three committees are involved in this work. We in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs do not have responsibility specifically for health and healthcare matters, but rather for the link to the labour market. We now have, I am happy to say, a labour market that is designed to involve women and where women can be found in ever increasing numbers. In my own country, the proportion of women in work is just as high as that of men.
If someone contracts a serious illness such as breast cancer, one purely factual consideration is that time out has to be taken for treatment. It is sometimes possible for a woman to go on working, but to do so means also being able to discuss with her employer what changes might be made to her work patterns so that she might continue in employment while she is receiving treatment. It is also possible for someone to become seriously ill for a period of time but then get better as a result of treatment and be able to go back to work. The question is then one of how she can be successfully re-integrated into working life, and in such a way that the breast cancer treatment does not have a harmful effect on it
It is important for us to address these issues. That is the first point to be made by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. Our second area of concern comprises the professionals involved in these issues. There is constant progress in terms of research and development and procedures for treating breast cancer. It is important for medical staff to be kept up-to-date at all times on new procedures as they are developed. We do also have instruments at European level – specifically, within the framework of the Social Fund - with which to help staff develop their skills. In this area too, we must be able to make use of the Social Fund for the purposes of skills development, so that staff can use the best methods. This is also something to which the Lisbon Process is relevant. The Lisbon Process is, of course, about best practice, and that means that we are supposed to look to those countries that have made most progress.
Finally, I would like to mention something else that I have spoken to Mrs Jöns about. Breast cancer is a disease that strikes women, but it is important that we men get involved in working towards better procedures. It must not be women alone who are committed to better methods of fighting diseases that affect women. It is, rather, something to which all of us – both men and women – must be committed."@en1
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