Manay Gina bats for breast cancer awareness

Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th district, Pangasinan), raised yesterday, as a matter of personal and collective privilege on behalf of the 65 women legislators of the 15th Congress, the issue of breast cancer. Her speech was timed with the launching of the worldwide celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is this month.

Manay Gina, as she is popularly called by colleagues and constituents, dramatized the need for awareness by recalling what Rosa Francia-Meneses, founder of the Philippine Breast Cancer Network, once said: “The greatest risk of not surviving breast cancer is being a woman in the Philippines.” In 2000, Rosa died of breast cancer at the age of 48.

Rosa’s death and the deaths of many Filipino women may have been avoided had they known how to prevent the silent, creeping onslaught of the malady.

According to Gina, the Philippine Breast Cancer Network reveals that our country has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer in Asia. The survival rate for breast cancer patients in our country is below 40 percent, compared to the high survival rates of 80 to 98 percent already achieved in developed countries.

According to the Philippine Cancer Society, breast cancer is the number one cause of cancer mortality among Filipino women, accounting for almost 30 percent of all female malignancies. In fact, last May 12, Health Secretary Enrique Ona said that in 2010, there were a total of 12,262 new breast cancer cases, with 4,371 deaths.

This grim scenario, said Gina, calls for an intensified advocacy for the prevention and early detection of breast cancer.

“To beat this malady,” said Gina, “the World Health Organization is recommending early detection strategies such as self-breast examination and mammography that detect abnormal growth in the breasts. After all, it has been proven that early detection is the foundation of breast cancer control. If treated early, medical experts claimed that the survival rate for breast cancer patients is 85 percent.”

That is not to say that early detection does not prevent breast cancer, said Gina. Avoiding its known causes does. 

This is confirmed by a study by the United States’ Clayton Foundation for Research which revealed that cancers are primarily an environmental disease, with 90 to 95 percent of cases attributed to environmental factors and 5 to 10 percent due to genetics. The lifestyle factors that increase one’s risk include cigarette smoking, diet, alcohol, sun exposure, environmental pollutants, infections, stress, obesity, and physical inactivity. 

“It is therefore essential that we educate the public about its known causes and early detection strategies, if we are to prevent more deaths from this dreaded disease,” said Gina.

“The most important step a woman can take is to find breast cancer early. Screening exams such as mammograms can find cancers before they start to cause symptoms. Mammograms remain a very effective and valuable tool in saving lives. Breast cancers that can be felt already tend to be larger and are more likely to have already spread beyond the breast. The size of the cancer and how far it has spread are important factors that predict the prognosis with the disease.”

Early detection tests and guidelines can save lives. Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram and clinical breast exam by a health professional every year; women in their 20s and 30s should have a clinical breast exam as part of a periodic health exam at least every three years; breast self examination is an option for women starting in their 20s.

The mere mention of the word “cancer” comes like a death certificate putting a terminal status on earthly existence, said Gina. People diagnosed with cancer feel they are doomed, suddenly becoming hopeless and helpless. “This physical and emotional trauma is only half of the battle, a cancer patient must conquer. The other half involves sourcing the funds required to receive treatment.”

The type of chemotherapy treatment varies, depending on the severity of the disease. In a data gathered by the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, the actual expenses for chemotherapy at a public hospital, can be as low as P4,930 per cycle for AC Chemotherapy, and as high as P39,000 per cycle for Paclitaxel, a Taxane-based chemotherapy. Multiplied six times, these will cost P29,580 for AC therapy and P234,000, for Paclitaxel treatment.

These expenses don’t include the costs for surgery, mammography, biopsy and the medications before and after each chemotherapy cycle.

In addition, a patient also requires hormonal therapy for a period of five years, which costs a total of P932.50 per day, and the Bone Metastasis Therapy, also for five years, which costs P1,633.33 per day.

It is often said that cancer patients die because of the expense, and not because of the disease, said Gina. For this reason, the Department of Health is urged to  source cheaper medicines for breast cancer treatments to bring it within the reach of the patients. DOH to be more aggressive in its crusade against breast cancer, through a more active information dissemination campaigns.

A positive move has been undertaken by DOH  when it launched last April  a pilot program for  Medicines Access for Early Stage Breast Cancer, Stage I - IIIA. This program is delivered at three access points: East Avenue Medical Center, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center and Rizal Medical Center. This  program  will be brought down to the regional hospitals.

At the House of Representatives, the Association of Women Legislators Foundation, Inc., in cooperation with the Committee on Women and Gender Equality, and the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, launched an awareness and prevention program, that includes a forum on breast cancer and free breast examinations for House of Representatives’ staff and employees.

 A movement that has been started is the wearing of color pin, or pink ribbons, to make the public aware of the threat of breast cancer.

Gina and the her “kabaro” are pushing for the adoption of a national health agenda for breast cancer. “Let us ensure that we see the expansion of the Department of Health’s pilot program for Medicines Access for Early Stage Breast Cancer so that it is brought down to our regions and it is accessed by our constituency in our districts.”

Gina’s parting words on the floor: “Let us help keep our women healthy for they play a very important role in our society. Let us look after their welfare for they are, after all, our family’s guiding light. Let us show them we care, for they deserve our love and care!”

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