- The objective of this campaign is to disseminate information at the national level on prevention and timely detection of cancer among vulnerable communities such as indigenous people.
- The Inegi points out that for every 100 people aged three and over who speak an indigenous language, 12 do not speak Spanish.
- Not speaking Spanish should not represent a barrier to timely access to diagnostic and treatment services.
When it comes to diseases like cancer everyone is exposed and that includes indigenous people. In fact, seven out of ten patients with tumors are diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease. In many cases, people from rural communities are more vulnerable because they do not speak Spanish. For this reason, it is necessary that information campaigns are available to as many people as possible.
With this in mind, the CEO of the National Institute of Cancerology (INCan), Abelardo Meneses García, announced the start of the national campaign “One minute against cancer” in its fifth edition. One of the innovations that will be broadcast in Mayan and is subtitled in Spanish. It contains brief and forceful messages to sensitize the population about the need for diagnosis of the most frequent tumors, such as breast cancer.
Data from National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) point out that for every 100 people aged three and over who speak an indigenous language, 12 do not speak Spanish.
Cancer prevention in indigenous people
The general director of INCan recalled that through the campaign “A minute against cancer” which is coordinated by this institute and by the board of trustees, in the four previous editions, 60 percent of the country’s vulnerable population has had information on prevention and timely detection.
Before the Secretary of Health of the government of Mexico City (Sedesa)Oliva López Arrellano, and the director of the Oncology Hospital of Campeche, Nicolás Briseño Ancona, the general director of INCan specified that the campaign articulates community care with high specialty for the timely treatment of people who live in areas of difficult access .
He indicated that actions aimed at prevention bear fruit, contribute to reversing the trend and reducing mortality, costs and the reintegration of patients into their working and social lives.
He explained that through the campaign, which is available at this link, reflection is invited that one minute is enough to make the decision and change the course of life; It is financed by the INCan board of trustees and will be broadcast on television, radio, press, billboards and social networks.
The president of the INCan board of trustees, Alejandro Legorreta González, pointed out that, for 12 years, this organization has contributed resources to the institute for the work of care, teaching, research, prevention and detection of cancer.
He said that in the state of Yucatan one in four people speak Mayan, a language also present in Campeche and Quintana Roo, so the opportunity for the preventive message to reach these entities should be taken advantage of.
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