Armenian women not ready to openly talk about their illness։ Europa Donna Armenia patients forum

Armenian women are not ready to openly talk about their illness, Managing Director of the Armenian-American Wellness Center Khachanush Hakobyan said at a meeting of women with breast cancer.             

She said that several attempts were made by the center to bring together cancer survivors so they can share their problems and success stories, but the initiative failed because women would not openly discuss a topic that hurts them.

Khachanush Hakobyan mentioned that thanks to constant campaigning and various programs, today even all men and children know what breast cancer screening is, while in the early 2000s most of the country's population had no idea about it. Nevertheless, taking care of themselves is the last thing Armenian women do and consult a doctor when it's already too late.

Nvard Kocharyan, the head of Europa Donna Armenia and the organizer of event, also mentioned that the call for women to monitor their health and regularly undergo the necessary examinations is still relevant in our country. She reminded that the earlier breast cancer is diagnosed, the more effective its treatment is, while in the later stages the treatment is much more difficult, takes longer and is more expensive.

Nvard Kocharyan added that the purpose of the meeting is to gather those patients who face various problems during the treatment, to discuss these problems together with representatives from government agencies.

Gayane Serobyan, 50, said that five years ago she was diagnosed with neuroendocrine breast cancer of the fourth stage. According to her, this is the type of cancer that is not fully studied yet, and doctors did not guarantee her life. But she is in remission today, and this is a victory.

Gayane underwent several difficult and expensive stages of treatment: chemotherapy, complex surgery, then chemotherapy again. But today, everything is fine thanks to the doctors’ competent work, and the active support of Europa Donna Armenia. She believes there should be more such patient organizations in Armenia and called all women to not forget to have regular examinations, since they are pretty affordable, which cannot be said for the treatment of cancer in the late stages.

Oncologist Levon Badalyan told the patients how to distinguish fake medications from real ones, and the head of the Department of Medical Technologies and Humanitarian Aid of the Ministry of Health, Marina Harutyunyan, talked about the state drug policy of cancer treatment. She informed, in particular, that the breast cancer treatment program with herceptin, which is currently used for the cancer treatment of I-III stages, as of 2024-2026 will be used also to treat the IV stage of breast cancer.

The forum was attended by the guests from Georgia – the representatives of Europa Donna Georgia – the patient organization. The head of the organization, Anna Mazanishvili, presented the Georgian experience of working with government agencies, spoke about the “Target for life” campaign aimed at achieving full state insurance coverage of cancer treatment.

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