“I would like to tell all women who hesitate that they should undergo this screening,” encourages Martine, 60 years old, whose breast cancer was detected a year ago thanks to a mammogram carried out as part of the screening campaign for women aged 50 to 74.
On the occasion of Pink October, each department covered by the Regional Coordination Center for Cancer Screening in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (CRCDC-NA) has chosen an ambassador to spread the word.
Self-examination is not enough
“I am grateful for the screening because it has only been a year since I had surgery and I am doing well,” testifies Martine, one of the twelve ambassadors from Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
The tumor of this nursing assistant from Limoges was detected at an early stage. “I had a lumpectomy, but being at grade 1 spared me from chemotherapy. I had twenty sessions of radiotherapy and I am on hormone therapy for five years because it is a hormone-dependent cancer,” she explains.
Mammography is an opportunity
and fear does not prevent danger
Since she was 30 years old, when she had surgery for a fibroadenoma – a benign mass – Martine has been accustomed to monitoring herself through self-examination: “but this time, I didn’t feel anything.” And since she turned 50, she has responded to the invitation for organized screening by having a mammogram approximately every two years. “An opportunity,” she says.
But it is an opportunity that more and more women in Haute-Vienne are now passing up.
3,000 fewer women
While the participation rate was 60.8% in 2021, it dropped to 51.4% in 2022, which represents 3,000 fewer women.
Although Haute-Vienne remains the department with the highest participation rate in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, the decrease in the number of participants, as well as the disparities observed in the territory, are encouraging public health actors and local authorities to continue and target their actions.
Targeting the Beaubreuil neighborhood
In Limoges, women in the Beaubreuil neighborhood, where there are no more general practitioners, gynecologists, or independent midwives, will receive special attention. “The participation rate in the neighborhood is 47.4% compared to 57% in Limoges,” says Benjamin Gandouet, CEO of CRCDC-NA.
“We will meet with the population and raise awareness, taking into account their characteristics that make them distant from healthcare: a large percentage live below the poverty line, over a quarter are foreigners, and with the presence of a shopping center, many never leave the neighborhood,” explains Claire Matas, coordinator of the local health contract for the City of Limoges and Limoges Métropole. Planned actions include the involvement of an independent midwife to raise awareness in the neighborhood and the reservation of mammogram slots at the university hospital and in independent radiography centers in Limoges.
Elsewhere in Haute-Vienne, in semi-urban or rural areas, actions will also be carried out during October: in Panazol, Aixe-sur-Vienne, Châteauneuf-la-Forêt, to name just a few…
How Haute-Vienne hopes to achieve a 70% participation rate in breast cancer screening (October 2022)
Hélène Pommier
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2023-10-01 20:28:00
