Free colorectal cancer screening in Lisbon pharmacies
The initiative is promoted by MoVSaúde - Associação Pela Prevenção da Doença Oncológica, in partnership with Europacolon Portugal, the AssociaçãoNacional das Farmácias and the Associação de Farmácias de Portugal, with the support of Lisbon City Council.
The campaign aims to reinforce prevention and promote early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, one of the main causes of cancer-related mortality in Portugal. A total of 4,000 screening kits were made available, distributed to more than a hundred community pharmacies in the municipality.
According to data from the Global Cancer Observatory of the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, around 10,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed in Portugal every year. The disease "can progress silently in the early stages, showing no symptoms until more advanced stages".
Early diagnosis has a significant impact on the disease's prognosis. "When detected early, colorectal cancer has a five-year survival rate of over 90%. In advanced stages, when there are already metastases, this rate can drop to less than 15%," say the campaign's promoters.
The screening is aimed, among other criteria, at people between the ages of 45 and 74 who are asymptomatic, have no history of colorectal cancer, associated hereditary syndromes or inflammatory bowel disease, and who have not had recent screening tests.
Registration takes place directly at a participating community pharmacy, where the pharmacist validates eligibility and hands over the collection kit . Once the sample has been taken, the user returns it to the pharmacy to be sent to the laboratory, and is then informed of the result by email.
In the event of a positive result, Europacolon Portugal contacts the participant to provide clarification and support referral for clinical assessment and possible colonoscopy.
Screening is "simple, accessible and can save lives, reinforcing prevention and health literacy and encouraging the adoption of healthy lifestyles".