‘One third of Jordanian men urged women to get breast cancer screening in 2012’


14-05-2013 11:58 AM

Ammon News - By Khetam Malkawi / The Jordan Times

AMMAN — A study conducted by the Jordan Breast Cancer Programme (JBCP) to evaluate the success of last year’s October campaign showed that one-third of Jordanian men said they encouraged their wives or mothers to undergo breast cancer screening.

The study, which included a sample of 1,000 Jordanian men and women, showed that 64 per cent of women underwent the screening out of their own will and without the encouragement of their husbands.

In addition, 99 per cent said organising and maintaining the October campaign is very important to raise awareness among the public about breast cancer and promote early diagnosis.

Respondents to the survey also noted that although they realise the importance of screening, there are some obstacles which prevent them from getting checked.

Some of these obstacles are related to their daily responsibilities and the fear of being diagnosed with the disease,

Every year, the JBCP organises a campaign in October to encourage women to undergo breast cancer screening.

The campaign is part of the international Breast Cancer Awareness Month, marked in October each year, which aims at combating the disease and encouraging women to undergo mammograms and perform breast self-exams.

The slogan of last year’s campaign was “Get Screened, Keep the Promise.”

Sixteen women who underwent mammogram screening at Health Ministry hospitals within the campaign tested positive for breast tumours and are undergoing additional tests, according to Mohammad Tarawneh, director of the ministry’s noncommunicable diseases directorate.

In recent remarks to The Jordan Times, Tarawneh said 505 of the 30,000 women who underwent mammography in the campaign were screened at the ministry’s hospitals.

The 16 women “were asked to undergo other tests to verify the results”.

According to Health Ministry figures, 978 breast cancer cases were registered in the Kingdom in 2010, including 11 among men.

Breast cancer constituted 37.4 per cent of all cancer cases among women in Jordan and 19.6 per cent of all cancers (female and male) that year.

The median age of diagnosis for breast cancer among Jordanian women is 50 years, which is 10 years lower than the median age of diagnosis in Europe, while the rate of prevalence was 31.8 per 100,000 women.

Amman registered the highest number of cases with 57 per cent of the total, followed by Irbid Governorate (14 per cent) and Zarqa (12 per cent).




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