Why timing matters?
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in most countries of the world. In 2024, an estimated 2.4 million women were diagnosed with it, and around 694,000 died from it. In Türkiye, like other countries, about 27,000 women receive a breast cancer diagnosis every year, and it remains the most frequent cancer among women and the leading cause of cancer death in women. It is also a cancer where the moment of diagnosis changes a great deal. If the cancer is found early, while it is still small and limited to the breast, it can usually be treated successfully, often with less demanding treatment. If it is found late, the choices are fewer, and the road is harder. Early detection has a simple aim: to catch the disease before it has had time to grow or spread, often before it causes any complaint at all.
Screening and early diagnosis are two different things
Screening is for people who feel well and have no symptoms. Its main tool is the mammogram, a low-dose X-ray of the breast that can reveal changes far too small to feel by hand.
In Türkiye, the Ministry of Health advises women aged 40 to 69 to have a mammogram every two years, even if they have no complaints. The service is free and is provided through the Cancer Early Diagnosis, Screening and Training Centres (KETEM), which operate in every province. Across Europe, the European Commission’s breast cancer guidelines recommend organised mammography screening for women aged 50 to 69, preferably every two years, and suggest it for women aged 45 to 49 and 70 to 74 at intervals of two or three years. Programmes still differ from country to country, so it is worth finding out what applies where you live.
Early diagnosis is the other half: noticing changes and having them checked without delay, whatever your age.
Knowing your own body
The Türkiye’s Ministry of Health recommends that women examine their breasts regularly every month from the age of 20. The point is not to become an expert, but to learn what is normal for you, so that a change stands out when it appears.
Things worth showing to a doctor include:
- a new lump or hard area in the breast or armpit
- a change in the size or shape of one breast
- skin that is dimpled, puckered or reddened
- a nipple that has turned inwards, or a rash or discharge from it
- pain in one spot that does not settle
An important detail: a lump caused by cancer is often painless, and early breast cancer may give no signs at all. That is why “it doesn’t hurt” is not a reason to wait, and why screening matters even when everything feels fine. At the same time, most breast changes turn out to be harmless. Having them checked usually brings peace of mind, and when it doesn’t, it buys time. Men can develop breast cancer too. It is rare, but because few men expect it, they often see a doctor later than they should.
Why do people put it off?
As with many health issues, the obstacles here are often not medical. Some women feel healthy and see no point in going. Some fear the result more than the disease, or have heard that a mammogram is painful. Many believe that if no one in the family has had breast cancer, they are safe, even though most women who are diagnosed have no affected relative. None of this is a matter of blame. These are gaps in information and confidence, and they can be closed.
Where does health literacy fits in?
Understanding the difference between screening and diagnosis, knowing what a mammogram result means and feeling comfortable asking questions are skills, and skills can be learned. They matter even more after a diagnosis, when patients are suddenly faced with words like stage, hormone receptor or HER2, and are asked to take part in decisions about their own treatment. OncoEd’s needs analysis, carried out with patients, caregivers and health professionals in Türkiye, Albania and Serbia, pointed the same way: people asked first and foremost for clear, practical information they can actually follow. This is what the project’s educational content sets out to provide, in short and reliable formats and in partners’ own languages.
Awareness months are often about visibility. This October, it is worth asking one more thing of the pink ribbon: that the message behind it is understood. Early detection works best when people know what it means, why it matters and what to do next. That part can be learned, and it is the part OncoEd is working on.
References:
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer (access date:17.10.2026)
https://www.saglik.gov.tr/TR-100021/ekim-ayi-tum-dunyada-meme-kanseri-farkindalik-ayidir.html T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı – Ekim ayı tüm dünyada meme kanseri farkındalık ayıdır (access date:17.10.2026)
https://sggm.saglik.gov.tr/TR-106030/erken-teshis-hayat-kurtarir–meme-kanseri-taramanizi-yaptirin.html T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı SGGM – Erken teşhis hayat kurtarır: Meme kanseri taramanızı yaptırın (access date:17.10.2026)
https://cancer-screening-and-care.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/ecibc/recommendations/print European Commission JRC – ECIBC Recommendations on breast cancer screening (access date:17.10.2026)
All OncoEd materials are educational. They do not replace advice from a patient’s own medical team.
Follow the project
Website: oncoed.org
LinkedIn: OncoEd
Funded by the European Union, Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership in Adult Education. KA220-ADU-BF389AFE OncoED: Digital Health Literacy for Cancer Patients Across Europe · 2025–2027
