Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia, because Pakistani women were vulnerable to the disease mainly on account of lacking awareness about this deadly disease. This was revealed by Dr Aftab Iqbal Sheikh, President and Dr Sheharyar Bhatti, Secretary General, Pakistan Society of Family Physicians while talking to Business Recorder here on Monday. They maintained that a large number of cancer-related cases were being reported to family physicians as well as in various hospitals, and disturbing fact was that women in younger ages were also becoming victims of this deadly disease.
In the past, we came across breast cancer among middle-aged women. But, today even girls in their 20s and 30s were developing this serious ailment, they added.
To a question, they said that social customs and taboos make it quite difficult for the rural women to come forward and disclose their condition to healthcare professionals. This was one of the main reasons that why such cases were not detected in early stages, they pointed out.
They also mentioned that generally obese women of above 40 years were at high risk of developing cancer, however, those have born children at later age or those avoiding breast-feeding their babies also have risk of developing cancer.
They further said that the women belonging to those families, which had cases of breast cancer in their families, were also quite vulnerable to the disease. Such women should go for mammography in every couple of years, they asserted.
They called for launching mass awareness about the breast cancer, which, according to the journal of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), represents the most common and deadliest disease afflicting women.
In Pakistan, every ninth woman had some type of cancer. Awareness must be created among the women so that they might be able to examine their own bodies, to determine if they had lumps or not, they said.
They were of the view that training of lady health visitors (LHVs) be carried out to create awareness at the grassroots level. They also stressed the need for creating awareness among women in the rural areas of the country.
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