Breast Cancer Prevention in Low and Middle Income Countries

Clinical Pearls

Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH, associate director, Prevention and Control, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center, discusses the need to focus on breast cancer prevention in low and middle income countries.

• Efforts need to be focused on breast cancer prevention in low and middle income countries.
• About 25% of all cancer diagnosed in women is breast cancer. That proportion will increase as countries go through economic transitions and women have fewer children, learn about better nutrition, and experience earlier onset of menstrual periods.
• It will be difficult to afford to diagnose and treat breast cancer in low and middle income countries. There is currently no robust prevention focus in these countries.