One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women of all ages, but the leading cause for women between the ages of 30 and 49. Early screening of breast cancer and early diagnosis following an abnormal result are essential to improve prognosis and increase chances of survival. Unfortunately, Quebec ranks among the lowest in Canada in this domain.
To mark the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this breakfast seminar will be an opportunity to discuss breast cancer prevention and screening strategies in Quebec, the pathways—and hurdles—leading to diagnosis, and new initiatives and approaches that need to be implemented.
Erin Strumpf (McGill University), CIRANO Fellow, and Tiffanie Perrault (Grand Valley State University) will present the analyses and conclusions of their studies on the subject. The two researchers argue that in the pursuit of improved breast cancer diagnosis and care, Quebec can and must do better by strengthening its commitment to innovative policies and developing methods to collect data that are comprehensive, standardized, up-to-date and accessible.
Cédric Baudinet from the Fondation cancer du sein du Québec, Dr. Jean Latreille from the Direction québécoise du cancer au ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux and Annie Slight from Dense Breasts Canada will join the discussion. Roxane Borgès Da Silva (Université de Montréal, CReSP, CIRANO) will lead the discussions.
This conference is part of the activities of the 2024-2025 thematic year at CIRANO under the theme of Efficiency at the heart of the Quebec health and care system.
The activity is made possible through support from the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health and the Department of Equity, Ethics and Policy from the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University.