Pink Ribbon Campaign Pakistan (PRCP) is finalising arrangements to observe October as breast cancer awareness month to raise awareness about the disease for early detection. Rana Nasir Ghafoor, Communication Co-ordinator, Pink Ribbon Campaign Pakistan said that breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy in women, and accounts for 38.5 percent of all female cancers which is 90,000 new cases every year.
About half (43.7pc) of all breast cancers are locally advanced accounting to 40,000 deaths per year. Late detection and follow-up for treatment has resulted in the high levels of mortality resulting from breast cancer. However, with early diagnosis and the appropriate treatment, a patient's chance of surviving is higher than 90 percent, he said.
"Our focus is to raise awareness about the dangerously high level of incidence of breast cancer in Pakistan, disease is curable, the disease can be detected early, even by simple self-diagnosis and that life after cancer is worth living," he said. Moreover, a latest Mammography Machine worth five million rupees has been installed at Lahore General Hospital. This machine will be very helpful in diagnoses of breast cancer in women.