The battle against breast cancer is showing gains and losses, a conference heard yesterday.
In wealthy countries, death rates are being slashed while globally rates of cancer are increasing in line with changing lifestyles, the European Breast Cancer conference heard.
Professor Peter Boyle, a Scottish professor based in France, told the conference in Glasgow, Scotland, that his own country enjoyed progress against the disease while still facing challenges.
In Scotland the death rate from breast cancer is at its lowest for a century as a result of screening and free access to National Health Service diagnosis and treatment.
He said: "While this is very positive, not all women worldwide have been able to benefit from these advances and the contrast between the situation in rich and poor countries is staggering.
"But even here in Scotland there are considerable differences due to lifestyle and social class."
He said that in countries such as Uganda and Kenya women tended only to seek medical attention when the cancer was advanced at stages three or four. And even between these two stages the difference in survival was 30 percentage points.
He added: "It is not as though breast cancer is a new disease – it has been around for thousands of years – or as though it cannot be treated effectively.
"While there is plenty of good news to report, at least in the developed world, what is particularly alarming is that there are still so many preventable deaths due to the combination of a lack of awareness and a lack of resources."
Professor Boyle is director of the University of Strathclyde Institute of Global Public Health at the International Prevention Research Institute in Lyon, France.
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