The first Breast Unit in Palestine is Italian: for the first time in the land of the Nativity, diagnosis and therapy of breast cancer for thousands of women according to the best European standards

In the first two months over 300 women were followed thanks to a project promoted by the NGO Elis and the Agency for Development Cooperation with the collaboration ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma. In one year, 40 percent of all breast cancer cases will be treated directly at home without having to go abroad for treatment.

"From today, even in Palestine, it is possible to carry out all diagnostic tests, from ultrasound to mammography, to biopsy, for breast cancer screening and to obtain the results within a week and in the event of a diagnosis of neoplasia, intervene immediately". The words of Nafez Sarhan, director of the first Palestinian Breast Unit presented on Sunday 9 December in Beit Jala (Bethlehem) summarize well the enormous step forward made by Palestinian healthcare which aligns with the highest European standards thanks to an important international cooperation project.

Palestinian women who suspect breast cancer or want to prevent it they will no longer have to wait months and go abroad for treatment (mostly in Jordan and Israel or even in Europe, with trips that could last even months and have considerable costs): now they can do it at the first and only multidisciplinary breast center in its country in Beit Jala hospital thanks to the collaboration between the Jerusalem Office of theAICS - Italian Development Cooperation Agency, Elis Ong who developed the project e Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma which provided its doctors and the experience of the active Breast Unit at its teaching hospital. Together with the Palestinian government's Ministry of Health, they designed the environments, organized the activities according to the most current protocols and trained local professionals with training on site and in Rome at the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, bringing Palestinian breast medicine to the level of the Breast Units European Union, foreseen by the European Union since 2003.

“We very gladly joined this project – has ofchiarato Davide lotteries, vice president ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma - because it fits perfectly into the strategic lines of the University. For many years we have been building links with other countries and with universities around the world to enrich our students and cooperate with others. In this sense, next year we will inaugurate a degree course in medicine and surgery in English, with an internationally recognized title, and we will host students from all over the world in Rome".

"We are happy to have contributed, through the creation of the Breast Unit, to concrete progress in Palestinian healthcare which has been aiming for a long time at the fight against breast cancer - recalled the Vice-President of the ELIS Center Association Daniel Mature.
The NGO ELIS is committed to reducing suffering in various populations, with interventions tailored to the specific needs of each country. In addition to Palestine, ELIS is now present in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Tunisia with projects of social promotion, job training and the fight against irregular migration, with particular attention to women and unaccompanied minors. The NGO ELIS is also active in Vietnam, where it is working to promote, with local schools, a school-work alternation model in order to promote youth employment in the country".

"Development cooperation – has ofchiarato Fabio Sokolowicz Consul General of the Italian Republic - historically represents one of the main instruments of cooperation between Italy and Palestine, particularly in the health sector, where we invest economic and professional commitment, and which sees us as leaders in the framework of joint programming with the other Member States of the European Union."

"Currently - has explained Cristina Natoli, director of the AICS office in Jerusalem - we finance cooperation projects in the health sector for over 35 million euros. We are building two hospitals in the Governorate of Hebron through a 10 million euro credit line, we have participated since 2008 in the PEGASE Multi-Donor Program to support Palestinian hospitals in East Jerusalem and in the last 5 years we have carried out three programs for a total of 20 million euros aimed at the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases and the improvement of basic health services."

“The Breast Unit is the emblem of the sharing of experiences between doctors, specialists and radiology technicians of two populations: Italian and Palestinian - Said Jawad Awwad, Minister of Health of Palestine - This has made it possible to introduce, for the first time in Palestine, new methods that have brought exceptional results, demonstrating the importance of communication and sharing beyond cultural differences. Here in Palestine, we are honored to be able to provide the population with a service comparable to Italian and European standards".

The recently renovated and adapted Beit Jala hospital ward can count on a Ultrasound, a Mammography with Tomosynthesis and computer systems. In its first months of activity, training courses were held in Italy and in Palestine for Palestinian medical, paramedical, technical and administrative personnel; joint research on pathology was carried out; and disease awareness activities.

The project aims to follow at least 150 patients a year in all phases of the diagnostic-therapeutic process (diagnosis, treatments and subsequent scheduled checks) equal to about 40 percent of all cases of breast cancer (387 in 2014, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health). The numbers of the Palestinian Breast Unit are constantly growing: only in the first two months of activity did the Beit Jala Breast Unit helped more than 300 women of all of Palestine to check early for the presence of a tumor and to intervene promptly, at the same time saving the Palestinian health system the equivalent of over two hundred thousand dollars for diagnostic investigations alone. Of these, about 26 were diagnosed with early breast cancer.

In terms of prevention, 130 of them have carried out more than one examination and about 30 have been able, for the first time ever in Palestine, perform the stereotaxic examination of microcalcifications, which in most cases lead to a tumor. Before the opening of the Breast Unit, Palestinian women who wanted to undergo cancer screenings had to wait between 4 and 6 months, a period of time in which their health conditions can seriously deteriorate. In the West Bank cancer is a direct cause of about 13,7% of total deaths e breast cancer is the most common malignancy, with a percentage of cases equal to 16,9% of the total: for this reason prevention is the only weapon to combat it effectively and save human lives.

"In recent months we have worked hard to transfer the experience of the Breast Unit of the Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital to Palestinian doctors and nurses - he recalled Vittorio Altomare, head of the Roman Breast Unit and scientific director of the project – Ours has been a very rich scientific and human path, which has made it possible to fill a very important gap in Palestinian health care, a delay that also affects some Italian regions that have not yet identified their Breast Units. Palestinian doctors and nurses have enthusiastically welcomed the multidisciplinary approach of the European Breast Units. We will continue to be close to them to increase this heritage and bring theirs cure rate at the level of European women. In fact, in the next few months we will open a hospitalization department dedicated to women, we will start the use of the intraoperative ultrasound technique for oncoplastic surgery, we will acquire a new technique for identifying the sentinel lymph node. Together we will give life to a scientific study and finally, in March 2019, we will hold the second joint Italian-Palestinian conference at the headquarters ofUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma".

And the launch of the Breast Unit in Beit Jala is also a great experience of humanity, in a community where awareness of the value of prevention is growing: “The Breast Unit has brought about a big change in our country - has explained Nida Khalil, radiology technician and operator of the Beit Jala Breast Unit – as soon as a woman suspects a breast problem we can now perform a biopsy, know the stage of the disease and how to treat it. I personally went to the markets and the streets and invited women to use our center for prevention and treatment". Among the women who have already undergone the treatment of the doctors of the Beit Jala Breast Unit, there is great enthusiasm and gratitude for a rapid diagnostic and treatment path that was unthinkable until a few months ago.