BreastCheck funds challenge

FOR several years now Europa Donna Ireland — the Irish Breast Cancer Campaign — has been seeking the extension of the BreastCheck screening programme to the whole of Ireland and to women up to the age of 69 (rather than 64 as at present).

As you so rightly say in your editorial (Irish Examiner, February 3), screening is the most effective method of early detection for breast cancer and significantly improves mortality rates.

The all-Ireland report on cancer statistics 1998-2000 demonstrated a significant decline in death rates from breast cancer in Northern Ireland, while death rates in the Republic remain constant. The difference is at least partially attributable to the fact that Northern Ireland has had a screening programme since 1993.