Alvi for early diagnosis of breast cancer

Stresses to raise awareness to break social taboos about disease

ISLAMABAD:

President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said early diagnosis of breast cancer was crucial in reducing the mortality rate in women and stressed raising awareness among the population to address the challenge by breaking social taboos about the disease.

Along with his wife Samina Alvi, the president in an interactive session with journalists of print and electronic media here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, highlighted the importance of the media's role in sensitising the public about breast cancer.

President Alvi emphasised adopting a preventive rather than curative approach as the government, at the level of the general public, could not bear the cost of expensive medical treatment including scanning and oncology procedures.

He called for educating women on how to conduct self-examination to locate any abnormal nodules and not to hesitate in seeking urgent medical help. Alvi said it was the responsibility of society to give a safer and more comfortable public space to women by providing them access to facilities, whether relating to education, health, and an environment free from harassment.

The president urged the journalists to join the cause of fighting breast cancer by highlighting the topic in their write-ups and television programmes. “Let's empower our women by improving their health and helping them contribute towards raising a healthy generation,” he said, adding that women at the grassroots level of society needed to be educated about self-examination through descriptive diagrams.

Besides breast cancer, he stressed that awareness of other health issues including malnutrition, stunting, hepatitis, and communicable diseases was also significant. The present mentioned that he had sent letters to media houses and journalists in the country, urging them to join hands with the government and civil society in raising awareness about breast cancer. “I and Samina Alvi, with our four years of awareness campaign on breast cancer from the platform of the Presidency, want to address the issue with a comprehensive shotgun approach," he said.

Begum Samina Alvi said because of her awareness campaign on breast cancer, the media had been effectively highlighting the subject in their television programmes and newspapers. She mentioned that she had proposed the television channels airing drama serials with the message of early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Dr Fauzia Abdus Samad, Head of the Oncology Department at Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi said of the 34,038 cases of female cancer incidents in Pakistan, over 40 per cent were related to breast cancer. She termed as alarming the one in nine mortality rate of women in the country and said self-diagnosis or early screening could up the survival rate of patients.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2022.