Screening mammography coverage and decennial plan for cancer control, Colombia 2014

Abstract

Objective Estimate the coverage of screening mammograms in Colombia during 2014, as well as the performance in hours of equipment by the team and the number of teams required, to reach the goal of 70% coverage of screening mammography before the year 2021. Materials and Methods A descriptive census study was carried out to characterize existing mammography equipment in the country. To this end, information was required from the Special Registry of Health Providers (REPS) and the operating licenses of mammography equipment processed before the territorial entities; the information was processed, validated and analyzed through frequency distribution tables in the Micro-soft Office Excel® program. Results The estimation of screening mammography coverage for the country based on the census of mammographers is 27.6%; To reach the screening goal of screening mammography of 70% at the country level, a mammograph requires weekly 38.2 hours for screening, use 56.3% of total time for screening mammograms and acquire approximately 69 additional equipment to those screened in 2014. There are marked differences in these data at the department and regional level. Conclusion At the country level, the estimation of screening mammography coverage is not good, it is necessary to improve the performance of mammography equipment, as well as acquire additional equipment for some regions; accompanied by effective programmatic strategies in early detection of breast cancer.