TEHRAN – A healthy woman fosters a dynamic family, a strong society, and a bright future. Therefore, prioritizing women’s health and developing a culture of self-care is a shared responsibility among women, families, the healthcare system, and society as a whole.

In this line, the health ministry is holding annual national programs to raise awareness of breast cancer, coinciding with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, observed from October 1 to 31, and highlighting the need to prioritize women’s health.

The programs underline the importance of a healthy lifestyle, early detection, and timely treatment as the three main factors in combating the disease, the health ministry’s website said, quoting Jafar Jandaqi, an official with the health ministry.

Women aged 30 to 69 are invited to benefit from screening and self-care training programs provided at the medical health centers, he added.

Breast cancer is the most common silent cancer among women; increasing women’s knowledge of breast cancer, risk factors, self-examination, related warning signs, and encouraging them to undergo timely breast cancer screening and regular check-ups will help detect the disease at an early stage when the treatment is most effective.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle, such as maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, eating well, and avoiding inactivity, smoking, and alcohol, plays a key role in preventing breast cancer.  

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a global opportunity to raise awareness of breast cancer and call for action to improve access to timely diagnosis and quality care.

The theme “Every story is unique, every journey matters” recognizes that every experience of breast cancer is different. Behind every diagnosis is a person, a family, and a unique journey. People may face different challenges depending on their diagnosis, treatment, support networks, and access to care.

Every person affected by breast cancer deserves to be supported and treated with dignity. And everyone, wherever they live, should have access to the care they need.

All countries should aim to reduce breast cancer mortality by 2.5 percent per year, putting the world on track to avert 2.5 million breast cancer deaths by 2040. This is feasible by providing breast cancer services as part of the essential benefit package for universal health coverage and making them available in public facilities.

With the right policies, services and investment, countries can reduce breast cancer deaths and improve survival.

Major inequalities in breast cancer survival persist around the world. 41 percent of women in low-income countries are expected to survive at least five years after a breast cancer diagnosis, compared with 87 percent in high-income countries. Around 70 percent of breast cancer deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where access to early detection, timely diagnosis and comprehensive treatment remains more limited.

Everyone, everywhere should have an equal chance to survive breast cancer.

Health ministry to streamline cancer care through national network

The health ministry is set to launch the national cancer care network in early autumn, aiming to integrate fragmented cancer treatment services into a coordinated, team-based, and traceable care pathway.

The initiative aims to ensure that the patients entering the network follow a clear path through the stages of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, without the need for patients to go to various centers, ISNA quoted Ali Motlaq, an official with the health ministry, as saying in September.

No new medical center is planned to be built; the network will benefit from available capacities to connect specialized physicians and medical centers. Based on the type of cancer, the center’s capacity, the patient’s place of residence, and other defined criteria, the patients would be referred to the best center and medical team, he noted.

The activities of the network focus on enhancing the quality of care, improving access, and reducing the financial burden of care on patients. Standardization of clinical pathways, systematic referral, teamwork and multidisciplinary decision-making, capacity management of centers, early diagnosis, patient navigation, and the electronic recording and monitoring of care pathways will also be among key components of the program, the official highlighted.

According to Motlaq, free cancer treatment does not mean unconditional access to cancer-related services and all medications free of charge in public and private sectors. The program aims to minimize patients’ out-of-pocket costs for covered services in the public sector, and in specific cases, without paying any money directly.

Recording the information of patients, their referrals and follow-ups, and the received care will help clarify a patient’s current situation, whether they have received required services, and who or what center is responsible for the next step in their treatment, he said.

The official went on to say that the program will also consider incentives for specialists and centers that join the network and accept its standards such as recording essential information, adherence to clinical pathways, participation in patient referral and follow-up, and accountability for the quality of provided services.

The first phase of the program will commence by focusing on breast cancer. The qualified centers and service providers will be identified, and the actual capacity of the services will be determined. After early detection, initial assessment through imaging, biopsy, and pathology, if cancer is confirmed, the treatment will begin, Motlaq said.

Ultimately, the success of the network should not be measured merely by the number of services provided or patients registered. The fundamental question is whether the patient received standard care—at the right time, in the right place, and from the right team, with minimal financial and administrative barriers—and if their journey to the next stage of care was fully traced.

The program aims to cover other top priority cancers in the country by the end of the current Iranian year, March 2027, he added.