Andos, the association that brings together over 10 thousand women who have undergone breast surgery, launches a survey to measure the economic and financial impact of the disease on the lives of patients.
Every year in Italy 55,900 people are affected by breast cancer and their average age is progressively lowering. These are often women of full working age who have to face long absences to follow therapies, sometimes forced to demote or resort to part-time or even resignation. Furthermore, they often need to pay out of pocket for the aids needed to deal with the disease. All this can give rise to the phenomenon called financial toxicity of oncological diseases.
“It is a phenomenon that is taking on growing importance and which pushes us first and foremost to measure the possible inequalities in the various Regions determined by the lack of provision of services, in the face of the complex and differentiated work and family situations that women affected by cancer face”, states Flori Degrassi , national president of Andos. The survey, completely anonymous, was developed together with Crea (Centre for Applied Economic Research in Healthcare (Crea Sanità).
“Having quantifiable data is an indispensable prerequisite for developing effective intervention strategies for the association and identifying concrete proposals for institutions and political decision-makers at national and regional level, but also for trade unions and businesses”, concludes Degrassi. “Because we believe that to guarantee equity and adequate quality of life for women operated on, a concrete and joint commitment is needed”.
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