Virginia Barcones highlights the importance of prevention and research as a tool in the fight against cancer

• Highlights the important work that the Junta Provincia de Soria of the AECC undertakes to support its 2,200 partners, mostly sick and family • The Ministry of Science and Innovation has allocated between 2018 and 2022 more than 480 million euros to research projects against the disease • The Ministry of Health, through the INVEAT Plan, the Government has transferred to the Junta de Castilla y León more than 38 million euros for the acquisition of 40 high-technology equipment, including linear accelerators to combat the disease

October 29, 2023. - The delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, has participated in the 'XI Camino por Soria contra el Cancer', a solidarity march of four kilometers that runs through the capital organized by the Provincial Board of Soria of the Spanish Association against Cancer. He stressed the importance of prevention and research as the best tool in the fight against this disease.

During the march, the government representative was accompanied by the deputy delegate of the Government in Soria, Miguel Latorre Zubiri; the president of the Soria Provincial Board of the AECC, Jesús Manuel Aguarón, among other authorities.

Virginia Barcones has highlighted that some 6,000 people who collaborate with this march by removing their t-shirt, and a greater number of those who have participated, and has recalled that all the proceeds go to three fundamental causes for the Spanish Association Against Cancer: “The assistance to patients and relatives, the dissemination of what is cancer, or, above all, research,” he said.

The delegate thanked the Soria Provincial Board of the Spanish Association Against Cancer for its role with its president, Jesús Manuel Aguarón, in charge. “You, with your work, with your support, with your know-how, are fighting to bring the situation back on track by giving courage to the sick and their families. In 2022, 674 new cases were diagnosed last year in Soria according to data from the Spanish Association Against Cancer.

“There is life while fighting cancer and there is life after cancer. Science and medicine have come a long way, perhaps more than education and prevention,” added Barcones, who explained that the survival rates of the disease are increasing thanks to more personalized and effective treatments.

Virginia Barcones has pointed out that health education is essential. Tens of thousands of cancers can be avoided each year thanks to simple prevention gestures such as not smoking, not abusing alcohol, not exposing children to the sun without protection, maintaining a balanced diet.

When it is detected, when a person must cope with the disease he needs all the support that can be provided, not only medical, but also social. “Hence the importance of the teams of psychologists that the AECC of Soria has, especially to attend is an emotional shock that involves receiving for the first time the diagnosis of the disease,” said the delegate.

Also key is scientific research and early detection of the disease; different levels of health and social care; and patient experience and the role of the family. “In this regard, we must thank the Soria Provincial Board of the Spanish Association against Cancer for the effort, commitment and service it offers to its 2,200 partners,” said the Government delegate. The social attention it provides in the form of help to family members who arrive from outside and look for a flat in which to stay for a while, the loan of material or occupational workshops.

The fight against cancer is a priority for the government and the commitment in that fight is total, without fissures. The Ministry of Science and Innovation has allocated more than 480 million euros to research projects against this disease between 2018 and 2022. The largest amount of money invested in health research goes to the fight against cancer.

The Ministry of Health, thanks to the High Technology Investment Plan (INVEAT), has contributed 38 million euros to the Junta de Castilla y León of funds from the Transformation and Resilience Recovery Plan that have facilitated the acquisition of up to 40 equipment, many of them essential for the diagnosis and treatment of oncological patients. For example, the linear accelerators of Ávila, León, Valladolid or the two of Salamanca.

Likewise, the Ministry of Health, as will be evident in this forum during the next two days, is aware of the importance of addressing the disease from a broad perspective that combines prevention, diagnosis, therapies, research and care response.

An approach that allows us to achieve a survival rate of 70% by 2030, as proposed by the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). In this sense, and in terms of prevention there are the screening programs for colon or breast cancer already established in all the autonomous communities or the promotion of the screening program for cervical cancer throughout the national territory.

Finally, the Government delegate has expressed that “Soria in a city of solidarity” as demonstrated by the volunteers who collaborate with the march as well as the number of people participating in it. “Soria’s AECC and its volunteers offer hope and encouragement. With your work you become a fundamental pillar in these moments of distress for the sick and family because the path to healing is full, you know, of difficult but surmountable moments”, he concluded.