Australia has been ranked at the lower end of the scale when it comes to appropriate breast screening services in the developed countries that make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a report released on Wednesday found.
According to the 'Healthcare in Focus 2016' report from the Bureau of Health Information (BHI), which assesses the standard of accessibility, appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare services in OECD countries, just over half of Australians between the ages of 50 and 69 were deemed to be receiving adequate breast screening -- below the overall OECD country average.
The report, which bases the appropriateness of healthcare services on whether the "right care" is given in the "right way" as per evidence-based models of care, found Australia to be behind 14 other OECD countries including New Zealand, Finland, Iceland and South Korea when it came to breast cancer scanning services.
That finding also leaves Australia in front of just six other nations who were deemed to be offering less appropriate services for breast screening patients.
The statistic, which comes ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, highlights a worrying trend for Australians who may not be adequately prepared when it comes to breast awareness.
In a separate report released by breast cancer charity The McGrath Foundation on Tuesday, three-quarters of Australian women were found to consider themselves breast aware, but just 16 percent actually met criteria to prove that belief.
McGrath Foundation mission programs director, Jane Mahony, said in a statement that it is crucial for Australians to be as breast aware as they can in order to have the best chance of effective treatment for possible cancers.
"Early detection of breast cancer while it is still small and confined to the breast provides the best chance of effective treatment," she said.
"Breast health understanding is more than just being breast aware. It's important that people take responsibility for their breast health by educating themselves to improve confidence, knowledge and behaviour to improve health outcomes for current and future generations."
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