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On Monday, the Minister of Health announced his desire to reduce the number of preventable cancers from 150,000 today to 60,000 within twenty years. With prevention as the spearhead.
This is an announcement that we can only welcome. Monday, on the occasion of the national Unicancer convention, a hospital network 100% dedicated to oncology, François Braun, Minister of Health, gave a benchmark in the fight against cancer which he considers a priority. Thus, its objective is to reduce avoidable cancers estimated at 150,000 per year, to 60,000 by 2040.
Prevention, a field to invest more
To do this, the Minister wants to focus on prevention at key ages in life and act in particular on the bad habits that can be adopted on a daily basis. According to him, today “prevention remains insufficient since 40% of new cases of cancer detected each year are attributable to our lifestyles”said the Minister.
Thus, the Minister intends “fight against the risk factors that we know” such as bad eating habits, or addictions. Here, for example, a “deterrent price” has been maintained on all tobacco products, in the Social Security budget. Prevention will also involve setting up free medical consultations at the key ages of life, 25, 45 and 65, as was decided last September.
More screening and vaccinations to come
The same applies to screening, which should be accentuated. “It is estimated, for example, that 15 to 20% of breast cancer deaths could be avoided through greater participation in organized screening. This is considerable”, said the Minister. Today, nine million screenings are carried out each year. The minister intends to screen a million more people, per year, “by 2025”. François Braun also reiterated his desire to increase vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) infections responsible for several cancers.
Approach cancer as a whole
Finally, the minister also mentioned the sequelae that persist beyond the disease, as well as the poor prognoses faced by many French people. “Our goal is to reduce from two thirds to one third the proportion of patients suffering from sequelae five years after a diagnosis” said the minister. As for cancers that leave little chance of remission, François Braun hopes to accelerate research so that survival evolves in the right direction.