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The National Cancer Control Strategy is almost completed, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila on Thursday told a specialist conference where he emphasized the importance of preventive medical services.
"We have an almost completed version of the National Cancer Control Strategy as part of the European Cancer Control Plan. There are regionally developed programs that should be developed at national level. I think the most important thing is to succeed in changing mindsets. We can set nationwide programs in place and the population may be reluctant to access them, therefore we need to work on health education, for people to understand that these preventive behaviors are useful not only for the early detection of cancer, but also for many other pathologies we face," the Minister said at the conference organized by the Renaissance Foundation.
He pointed out that screening, as well as vaccination programs reduce the burden of many cancers.
"We have screening programs for cervical cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer. The use of HPV vaccine, especially in girls, although boys can also be eligible for this vaccine, hepatitis B vaccination reduce the burden of these major forms of cancer that cause not only high mortality but also a lot of suffering," the Health Minister explained.
According to him, family doctors should be an integral part of this approach, and access to the package of preventive services should be encouraged so as to really reduce morbidity and mortality.
"We still have work to do in primary care. Our colleagues and friends in family medicine practices need to be an integral part of this effort. I believe that access to primary health care services - and I am referring here to the preventive package - should also be encouraged financially or through other administrative methods, so that the effort we are putting in at the Health Ministry, but necessarily in partnership with civil society organizations that have been visibly and efficiently carrying out such programs for years now, has a real impact on reducing morbidity and mortality," Rafila concluded. AGERPRES
