The Healthcare sector is currently marked by major challenges, such as cancer, which concern and affect all members of society. Organisations with a strong sense of social responsibility contribute, to the best of their abilities, to the effort to address these challenges.
In this respect, C.A.PAPAELLINAS Group is actively involved in the efforts to prevent breast cancer, a condition that may affect every woman and, in some cases, men as well.
More specifically the Group, in collaboration with its subsidiary Melidonia Health, has designed and largely funded a specific population screening programme to identify people with increased risk of breast cancer, as a result of a genetic predisposition, on the basis of their genetic profile analysis. The programme, which is addressed to all women working in the Group, is implemented with the support of medical oncology consultant George Astras and his team, who also assumes overall responsibility for all relevant medical issues.
Breast cancer affects all of us. In 2021, 610 women and 3 men were diagnosed with breast cancer in Cyprus. In many cases, lifestyle and environmental factors may lead to this condition. However, there are cases where breast cancer is considered hereditary, resulting directly from certain genetic characteristics.
The existence of such characteristics and mutations in a person’s genetic makeup does not guarantee the occurrence of breast cancer, although it increases breast cancer risk not only in the person but also in their first-degree relatives (mother, siblings, children). Risk awareness is essential for prevention and early detection of the disease. Being aware of the risk, we can work together with our doctor on developing a plan of prevention or diagnosis at an early stage when treatment is most likely to be successful.
As part of the programme, all personnel of C.A.PAPAELLINAS Group have been invited, under the supervision of Dr. George Astras’s medical team, to complete a relevant family history questionnaire. People with an apparent strong family history of breast cancer will have the option, if supported by the medical team, to undergo genetic testing. This test will identify the presence of any traits or mutations that may cause breast cancer at some stage in the person’s life.
Medical oncologist George Astras underscored the need for developing a prevention behaviour among women: “This is an initiative dedicated to life. Knowledge is power when it comes to the prevention of dramatic health issues in a woman’s life. Early detention of gene variants that are associated with predisposition to a serious health problem can increase the chances for a more succesful therapy. Preventing women from developing breast cancer cannot wait; it is already here and we owe it to ourselves, our families and our patients to make it our own. With this initiative, C.A.PAPAELLINAS Group shows its employees and society the way towards the prevention and early detection of breast cancer.”
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