At Servier BeLux, we know how important preventive health measures are.
Cancer is a disease that affects not only the patient, but also friends, family and colleagues around him or her. Our general manager, Ziad Matta, puts it aptly:
“Cancer does not only affect the person who becomes ill, but also all the people around them. That’s why it’s crucial to take action where we can.”
One of the most powerful tools to increase the chances of a favorable outcome is early cancer screening. This method has been around for nearly a century and has saved many lives.
More than 80 years ago, Greek physician Georgios Papanikolaou discovered that abnormalities in cervical cells could be detected early through a simple test. Thanks to this breakthrough, which we now know as the Pap smear, the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased dramatically. Studies show that the introduction of this test between 1976 and 2009 halved the number of early-stage cervical cancer cases.1 This success paved the way for other forms of screening, such as mammography and colonoscopy.
Did you know that colonoscopy alone can save 28 lives for every 1,000 people who are screened?2 And that early screening for prostate cancer using PSA testing and biopsies can prevent as many as 20% of deaths?3 Research even suggests the potential to increase this figure to 40% over time. Yet we see many people not taking advantage of these screening options.4
The effect of screening is undeniable. Systematic screening has reduced cases of cervical cancer and colorectal cancer by 55% and 45%, respectively, in recent decades. The mortality rate has fallen even more sharply. This is all thanks to to routine screening.5
“It often happens that in a conversation with friends or colleagues you notice that, although they know how important screening is, they still don’t get screened,” says Ziad Matta. The reasons for this are often complex, ranging from fear to stigma.6 But the reality is simple: cancer screening saves lives.5 This is why we at Servier BeLux decided to launch an awareness campaign for all our employees in Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
We want to encourage everyone within Servier to participate in the screenings available: whether for colon cancer, breast cancer or cervical cancer. Screening can save lives. It’s a clear call to action: screening, screening, screening!
We are proud of this initiative and hope it causes a snowball effect, with our employees also inspiring their loved ones to get screened, under the motto: “We did it, so you can do it too. We saved our lives, you can save yours too.”
With our new campaign, we want to not only raise awareness, but actually spur action. As Ziad Matta puts it, “If there is one person, just one person, who is motivated by this campaign to get screened, and if that screening saves his or her life, then our mission has succeeded. That is the greatest gift we can wish for.”
Let’s take action together. Screening saves lives. And it starts with us.
Sources:
1.Cotterill, J. (2023). Health inequalities: Breaking down barriers to cancer screening. Retrieved from https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2022/09/23/health-inequalities-breaking-down-barriers-to-cancer-screening/
2. Yang, D. X., et al. (2018). Impact of Widespread Cervical Cancer Screening: Number of Cancers Prevented and Changes in Race-specific Incidence. American journal of clinical oncology, 41(3), 289-294.
3. Sohn, E. (2023). Colonoscopies save lives. Why did a trial suggest they might not? Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00020-5#:~:text=For%20every%201%2C000%20people%20screened,are%20saved%20by%20early%20detection.
4. New screening trial to save thousands of men’s lives from prostate cancer. (2024). Retrieved from https://prostatecanceruk.org/about-us/news-and-views/2024/05/new-screening-trial-to-save-thousands-of-men-s-lives-from-prostate-cancer
5. Portero de la Cruz, S., & Cebrino, J. (2022). Trends and Determinants in Uptake of Cervical Cancer Screening in Spain: An Analysis of National Surveys from 2017 and 2020. Cancers, 14(10), 2481.
6. Putting Cancer Screening in Perspective. (2023). Retrieved from https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/science-health-public-trust/perspectives/putting-cancer-screening-perspective
