More than 50,000 women from five districts of the country underwent prophylactic cervical and breast cancer screening in 2011- 2012. Over 50% of the identified cases of cervical cancer were at late stages, Info-Prim Neo reports. Mircea Buga, director general of the National Health Insurance Company, told a news conference that cancer is the second most common cause of death after the cardiovascular diseases. “In 2011, the Company suggested a project to finance the first national oncological screening in order to discover cases of cervical and breast cancer, which is a leading disease in Moldova, at early stages. It is an ambitious program that will be extended for the next years,” said Buga. A cervical cancer screening test costs 158 lei, while the cure – about 25,000 lei per person. The breast cancer screening test costs 322 lei, while the treatment at stages 3 and 4 – about 48,000 lei. The cost of repeated treatment can be up to three times higher. Two more types of screening, for men, will be initiated in 2013 – for prostate and colorectal cancer. Oncological Institute director Victor Cernat said the cancerous diseases appear as a result of untypical illnesses and precancerous states. The first screening covered women aged between 25 and 59 in the case of cervical cancer and between 50 and 69 in the case of breast cancer. As a result of the examinations, there were identified 730 women with precancerous diseases and cervical cancer at stages 3 and 4, and 308 women with breast pre-cancer and cancer. The project was implemented by the National Health Insurance Company and financed from the Prophylaxis Measures Fund. The total cost of the screening was 10 million lei.