Andalusia strengthens humane assistance to cancer patients and their families

Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Catalina Garciadefended commitment humane care for cancer patients and their families in Andalusia as the best response to the important changes that cancer brings about in the lives of patients and their immediate environment; “changes that have physical, emotional and social impacts that may last over time”even overcame cancer,” he said.

Catalina García explained that the goal set out in Andalusia’s cancer control strategyis to create atmosphere of trust it helps improve more humane and person-centred healthcare with increasingly personalized treatment. “We want to bridge the gap that exists between healthcare providers and patients,” he added.

In his speech at II Cancer Woman Dayorganized by the OdS with the support of AstraZeneca and held this Monday in Madrid, the head of the department of health and consumer affairs detailed that the ministry is immersed in I am developing protocols for monitoring long-term survivors. so much for adults, as well as children and teenagers, optimizing communication channels with patients and families, primary care and hospital care to ensure continuity of care and improve transition protocols to palliative care; support patient associations; offer psychological and psychosocial support to patients and their families; implement local humanization plans in which rights of cancer patients (closeness, information, comprehensive care, participation or comfort), and also increase training medical personnel in communication skills.

As part of this humane attention, the consultant recalled that 24-hour care for pediatric cancer patients extended throughout Andalusia, both in person and by telephone. “This is a response to demands from families and professionals themselves, which ensures greater safety and quality of care for these children,” he assured.

Garcia, who took part in a round table on the topic “Administration’s obligations to patients,” clarified that “The Junta of Andalusia’s responsibilities extend beyond welfare.consisting in offering the best treatment with the best specialists and the most complete equipment; prevention and early detection workfor example, breast, colon or cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination, and research to help find a cure for this diseaseThe consultant added that “we are working on promoting a healthy lifestyle in schoolswith school nurses and the education community to establish a healthy pathway for children throughout their lives. We think it’s important to be able to work when cancer is a reality, but perhaps it’s more important to work without cancer becoming a reality.”.

Cancer Research

In this sense, the head of the department of health and consumer affairs noted that “ improved treatment outcomes for cancer patients, the result of research, is a reality in recent years, from two fundamental aspects: targeted therapy, which allow you to select the best treatment for a particular patient based on the molecular characteristics of his tumor; And immunotherapywhich was a great revolution because it allows our own defenses to destroy tumor cells through treatment.”These strategies are achieving survival rates that were unimaginable just a few years ago.as well as maintaining the quality of life of patients,” he emphasized.

So currently every fifth group in medical research centers and institutes that conduct research in the public health system of Andalusia, all or some of their work is related to oncology.. Between 2019 and 2023 they were caught by the Andalusian Health Service. 259 competitive grants for research projects related to oncology, this means 31.5 million euros. Thus, every fifth euro raised through competition projects in Andalusia in these five years goes to oncology research. The Carlos III Institute of Health (38.2% of funds) and the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (15% of funds) are the main funders of projects of this type..

More than 2000 researchers (600 of them lead at least one project, and the rest are members of groups and projects) have conducted oncology-related research in recent years. The vast majority are distributed in 79 stable scientific groups of centers (GENO, KABIMER and BIONAND) and health research institutes (IBIS, IMIBIK, IBS.GRANADA, IBIMA and INIBIKA). It means that 20% of the total number of research groups in these centers have all or some areas related to oncology..

Of the 3,331 clinical trials initiated at SSPA during this period, 936 (28%) conduct research in the field of oncology.. Thus, almost 3 out of every 10 clinical studies initiated in the Andalusian Health Service in the last 5 years have studied this topic.

Patient associations

In addition to the administration’s commitment to patients, Catalina Garcia values ​​relationships with patient associations dedicated to the fight against this disease. In his opinion, these associations play “fundamental role in raising public awareness of the disease, your risk factors and the importance of early detection; provide invaluable support for patients and their families cancer survivors by offering counseling services, support groups, financial resources and emotional well-being programs, and fund innovative research projectsand collaborating with academic institutions and medical centers to promote the development of more effective treatments and the search for a cure.”

However, the head of the department of health and consumer affairs said: “It is very important improve coordination and communication between administrations and associations with clear channels of cooperationsharing resources and related information and avoiding duplication of efforts.” To which he added that “they should work together to identify and remove obstacles that prevent certain populations from accessing needed health care and resources, guarantee equal access to health services for cancer patients.

“This department supports projects comprehensive care which develop patient associations through subsidies that complement the actions of the SSPA where they do not reach, always pretending improve the quality of life of people with diseases and disabling pathologies or disorders“, viewing patient associations and mutual aid as assets for the health and emotional well-being of the Andalusian population,” he added.

In addition, Catalina Garcia warned about danger of misinformation, “one of the main problems we face.” “It still happens that you don’t know the pathology if it doesn’t affect you closely. This is why we must continue to insist on educate and inform the entire societyto give preference chain of solidarity with sick people and their families, or at least the point of view more understandingwhich contributes to their full integration into society,” he insisted.

“There is a lot of information circulating in the media and social networks, but we cannot guarantee its quality, hence the importance of promoting resources such as the School for Patients or the School of Health for Citizens, of which Andalusia was a pioneer in Spain; maintain the web pages of the Andalusian public health system with verified information; hold flexible communication channels between medical workers and the population“, to ensure a more horizontal relationship between them and patients,” he said, as well as “Continue to promote health from a young age by promoting health.”.

Cancer in women

Cancer is second cause of death among women In Andalusia. In 2022, 7,578 women died from cancer in the community. (and 11,623 men). 1164 women died from breast cancermost common among women (56.67% of women who died from cancer); 964 people died from colon cancer (12.72%); 828 light (10.93%) and 113 cervical cancer.

The Andalusian Councilor recalled that a third of these deaths are preventablealthough they are due to risk factors that we can prevent with a healthy lifestyle and some, such as the cervix, with vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV). In January, vaccination coverage for girls across Andalusia was 92.8%, and first vaccination coverage for 12-year-old boys was more than 80% of the 2011 cohort. piloting cervical cancer screeningwhich moves from opportunistic to population and which In July it will be extended to the whole of Andalusia..

early detection This allows increase survival rate and fulfilled in most cases more conservative and less mutilating operation for breast cancer, for this reason, as Catalina Garcia noted, “our goal is expand the target audience Early detection programs.” From April 25, 2023, women aged 70 and 71 years were included in screening. Therefore, the current target population is 50 to 71 years old, with plans to include women aged 47 to 49 years in the near future. Since 2021, 1,079,114 women have taken part in this screening (in 2023 – 410,837), which made it possible to diagnose 3,632 cancers over these three years (last year – 1,355).

For its part, the Program Colon Cancer Screening Since its launch, it has invited a total of 2,319,696 people living in Andalusia, including 440,967 women, to take a test at home, achieving a coverage of more than 98.38% of invitations to test the target population. At the moment, 837,223 people have responded to this invitation after passing the test, which is 39.74% of those invited. Of these, 164,537 women accepted the invitation and 105,839 took part (passed the test), which is 24%. Of the tests taken, 6,781 were positive, 4,173 were scheduled for colonoscopy, of which 2,173 were positive. In total, more than 6,500 people were diagnosed with colon cancer in 2023..