Mammography positively impacts success rates against breast cancer.

On National Mammography Day (5/02), Américas Amigas alerts for the importance of early diagnosis Established four years ago by a bill of the Minister of Human Rights, Maria do Rosário, February 5 is the National Day of Mammography. The date aims to raise women's awareness about the importance of performing the examination capable of detecting cancer early, one of the pillars of struggle of Amigas Americas, a social organization that since 2009 develops several actions to reverse the mortality rate by the disease. In five years of history, the organization has already given more than 20 mammography devices to hospitals that serve the Unified Health System (SUS). With this, it intends to provide low-income Brazilian women with access to preventive examinations and, as a consequence, enable early diagnosis of breast cancer, when the chance of cure is approximately 95% . "Mammography is today the most effective method for early detection of breast cancer, so it is very important that we expand access to this type of examination in the country, which we consider a chance at life," explains Francisca de Paula Harley, president of Américas Amigas. A study presented at the European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, indicated that the higher the health budget, the greater the chance of cure of the disease. The study showed that mammography has a strong impact on the success rates in the fight against breast cancer. The results also described disparities between the amounts allocated to health between countries and showed the existence of a strong correlation between these amounts and the chances of surviving cancer. In Brazil, the investment in health is US$ 107.00 per person, while the world average is US$ 549.00.