The cancer treatment advocacy organisation, Europa Donna Ireland, stepped up its campaign for breast cancer awareness today with the launch of The Guide to Specialist Breast Clinics.
"The new guide is an excellent initiative as it sets out in clear, jargon-free language the services and treatment available," said EU Commissioner Ms Anna Diamantopoulou.
"It will help raise awareness and understanding of breast cancer and empower Irish women to become more informed and more proactive about their health".
Ms Deirdre O’Connell from Europa Donna Ireland (EDI), a European coalition of breast cancer lobby groups, welcomes the launch of the leaflet, which she feels will "help people understand what a multi-disciplinary clinic is".
"These type of clinics have been very successful elsewhere in lowering mortality rates by up to 20 per cent," she said.
Ireland has the third-highest death rate from breast cancer in the EU, behind only Denmark and the Netherlands.
A report carried out in March 2000 by a sub-group to the National Cancer Forum recommended that there be 13 specialist breast units across the country, to service population areas of between 250,000 and 300,000.
According to Ms O’Connell, EDI is disappointed that only a small number of these are up and running to date, while many still "don’t have resources and staff to be fully functional".
Multi-disciplinary clinics are in the pipeline for Drogheda, Galway, Waterford, the Midlands area, North Western Health Board, two in Cork and five in Dublin.