Mônica Bergamo: Eight out of ten Brazilians have had contact with cancer, says Datafolha

A Datafolha survey commissioned by the Oncoguia Institute reveals that about eight out of ten Brazilians (83%) aged 16 and over have had someone they know with cancer, be it a family member, friend, neighbor or colleague. If we consider those who were diagnosed with the disease or saw someone at home develop it, four out of ten people in the country have already lived with cancer closely.

In all, 63% of Brazilians say that cancer should be the disease treated as the highest priority by the government. Then there are cardiovascular diseases and alcohol abuse, distant by 55 percentage points, with 8% of the citations. Diabetes, in turn, received 6% of mentions.

Datafolha conducted 2,099 interviews between the 4th and 12th of this month. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points within the 95% confidence level.

People with higher education and belonging to classes A and B are the groups that least mentioned cancer.

Women were the ones who most cited “cardiovascular diseases”, “obesity” and “respiratory diseases”, while men highlighted “smoking” and “lack of physical activity” when asked about diseases that cause most concern.

Talking about cancer arouses negative feelings in 42% of Brazilians, highlighting the association with the word “death”. “Illness”, “pain”, “fear”, “sadness” and “suffering” are others that appear more frequently. Mentions of “treatment” and “cure” were made by only 14% and 9% of respondents, respectively.

According to Datafolha, the survey results indicate the importance of expanding efforts for early diagnoses and access to treatments, which are currently little perceived by the population.

For the founder and president of the Oncoguia Institute, Luciana Holtz, the survey shows that cancer is getting closer and closer to people, in addition to a request from the population for cancer to receive more attention from governments.

“This is information that all politicians need to know, especially in an election year,” he says. “In the face of so many problems, it is necessary to prioritize and act. Cancer does not wait”, he continues.

The research carried out by Datafolha will be presented by the NGO that supports and defends the rights of cancer patients this Tuesday (26), during the National Oncoguia Forum. At the event, which will last until next Friday (29), the oncology scenario in the country will be discussed.