Nearly six in 10 women have accepted an invitation to attend breast screening since the government programme was set up in 2009.

Of the 46,000 women, aged 50 and over, offered screening between October 2009 and July 2013, 27,000 accepted – and 193 were found to have cancer, Gertrude Abela from Europa Donna Malta said yesterday.

This meant that 193 women and their families were saved from “the trauma of discovering the cancer at an advanced stage” and the treatment would be less drastic with greater chances of survival, she said.

She was speaking during a press conference held at The Point in Sliema to launch the annual walk organised to mark Breast Health Day, which this year will take place on October 13.

The walk is organised by Europa Donna Malta, the Maltese forum of Europa Donna, the European Breast Cancer Coalition.

Those taking part will wear badges of different colours, with pink representing the incidence of breast cancer, white standing for those who have succumbed to this disease and blue for men, who can also suffer from a rare form of breast cancer. Ms Abela pointed out that a recent study by the University of Texas found cases in men to be on the rise.

In European women, the average five-year survival rate between 1995 and 1999 was 79.5 per cent, which showed that awareness and early screening could save lives, she added.

Registrations for the walk will take place at 9.30am and the walk will start at 10am.

A donation of €5 will help support Europa Donna Malta’s information and awareness campaigns.