Ｔｈｅ　Ｐｌｉｇｈｔ　ｏｆ　Ｃｈｉｎａ’ｓ　Ｂｒｅａｓｔ　Ｃａｎｃｅｒ　Ｓｃｒｅｅｎｉｎｇ　Ｐｒｏｇ.docVIP

Ｔｈｅ　Ｐｌｉｇｈｔ　ｏｆ　Ｃｈｉｎａ’ｓ　Ｂｒｅａｓｔ　Ｃａｎｃｅｒ　Ｓｃｒｅｅｎｉｎｇ　Ｐｒｏｇ 　　 　　PROFESSOR Xu Guangwei, 74-year-old former chairman of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association (CACA), worked as a surgeon his whole life. He has various regrets, but nothing arouses more complicated feelings than the “Breast Cancer Screening for One Million Women” project that he initiated after retirement. 　　 　　How Did the Project Start? 　　 　　On April 21, 2005, when the official start-up ceremony for the breast cancer project was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Gu Xiulian, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and president of the All-China Women’s Federation, and Zhang Meiying, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, both delivered a speech to express their support. Other leaders also voiced encouragement. 　　Xu Guangwei contributed greatly to the project’s launch. “I worked as a surgeon my whole life, but in fact few of my patients recovered. Treatment can just help lessen their symptoms or give them some comfort,” says Xu sadly. “However, the situation is that there are more and more cancer sufferers.” 　　It was the realization of the limitations of cancer treatment that made Xu switched his focus to cancer prevention. He decided to start by conducting breast cancer screenings. 　　Breast cancer is often referred to as a 搘oman killer.?An investigation released by the Ministry of Health last April showed that the breast cancer death c rate had almost doubled in the past three decades, a growth rate second only to that of lung cancer. Breast cancer screening in Western countries has proven effective in reducing the number of deaths, as early detection greatly improves the chances of effective treatment. 　　As early as the late 1980s, Xu and his colleagues conducted breast cancer screening trials in Beijing. There were also small-scale screening programs in Tianjin, Shanghai and other cities. Howeve