Μake us preferred on Google The start of a new year is often seen, largely for psychological reasons, as a springboard for fresh beginnings. But sociologists say autumn can have much the same effect. The reopening of schools after the summer holidays seems to reinforce the feeling that it is time to make decisions that will improve our lives. It is no coincidence that October has been designated Breast Cancer Awareness Month, while a number of autumn awareness days invite us to learn more about diseases that can be prevented, provided we take the necessary steps.
September 20 is observed as a day of awareness for gynecological cancers. The term covers cancers of the female reproductive system: the ovaries, endometrium, cervix, vulva and vagina. Such an awareness day is needed. Breast cancer is not the only cancer affecting women, and the incidence of other gynecological cancers in Greece is far from negligible. According to figures from the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Greece recorded 8,733 new breast cancer cases and 3,562 new gynecological cancer cases in 2024. That year, 2,398 people died from breast cancer and 1,344 from gynecological cancers.
“To anticipate and prevent is better than to cure,” Hippocrates said, and the figures still bear him out. From the launch of the free Fofi Gennimata mammography program in 2022 through the first half of 2026, approximately 1,205,142 digital mammograms were performed. They identified 73,395 women with findings that warranted further investigation. As we know, early diagnosis can be crucial to cancer outcomes.
Better still, however, is preventing cancer in the first place. That is not possible for every type of cancer. But there is a gynecological cancer that vaccination can help prevent: cervical cancer, which is caused by human papillomavirus, or HPV. Australia, the first country to undertake mass HPV vaccination of adolescent girls and boys, is expected to be the first to eliminate cervical cancer, by 2035. Denmark is expected to follow by 2040.
Greece lags behind in HPV vaccination coverage. But it is never too late. It is estimated that, with the right corrective steps, the country could eliminate cervical cancer before the middle of the 21st century. That would be a worthy goal for this autumn.
