By Richard Torné
Early screening for bowel cancer can increase survival rates by as much as 90 per cent in patients diagnosed with the disease – but only Almería city residents are benefitting from this potentially life-saving programme, the Junta has admitted.
The news comes as experts were due to meet today at a conference in Almería to mark world colorectal cancer day.
The meeting being held in Almería city and organised by the Junta de Andalucía’s health department and the Spanish cancer association (AECC) aims to increase public awareness on the importance of a healthy balanced diet and early screening to prevent the onset of the disease, which causes some 694,000 deaths a year worldwide and is the second most common type of malignant tumour after lung cancer, according to the World Health Organisation.
In Europe alone colorectal/bowel cancer affects about 450,000 people, causing more than 210,000 deaths every year – representing more than 30.3 per cent of the global total.
