In comparison with the rest of Mexico the state of Chihuahua and especially Cd. Juarez have the highest rates of breast cancer. Javier Barajas Figueroa, an oncologist in Juarez, reported to Norte that out of 600 women who visited the Hospital for Women in Juarez, 15 were found to have breast cancer. He adds that in 2007 250 cases of breast cancer were detected in Juarez, and preliminary data suggests there will be about 270 cases in 2008. The limiting factor is not a lack of money, since medical treatment is very inexpensive, or a lack of technology, which is available, but rather a lack of awareness among women and a fear of having mammograms. Only one in ten women understand the dangers of leaving cancer undetected for too long.
In New Mexico the rate of breast cancer for Hispanic women thirty years ago was far below the national average, but it has been slowly catching up to the national rate ever since.
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