A woman dies every 15 minutes because of breast cancer in Pakistan, therefore, a comprehensive community-based health education programme needs to be launched across the country to raise awareness of breast cancer, so that women can avail the different screening facilities, including sessions on self examination along with clinical examination and free screening mammography under one roof, said President Dr. Arif Alvi while chairing a briefing on Breast cancer by secretary National Health Services at Aiwan-e-Sadr here on Thursday.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza and representatives from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Shifa International Hospital, Pink Ribbon, Green Star, World Health Organization, and UNICEF were also present on the occasion, says a press release.
The President appreciated that Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre (FBCSC) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), had started free screening mammography and a large number of an early breast cancer cases had been detected.
He assured full support to the FBCSC for establishing a breast cancer screening programme at par with the rest of the world in order to reduce the mortality and morbidity of breast cancer in Pakistan.
He appreciated the efforts for controlling the incidence of breast cancer in the country.
The President was briefed on the mapping of the mammography facilities in Pakistan in order to utilize them for breast cancer screening across Pakistan so as to attain the goal of early detection of breast cancer and reduce morbidity and mortality.
Pakistan has the highest rate of Breast Cancer in Asia. One in every nine women suffers from Breast Cancer. Approximately 90,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, out of which 40,000 die. Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women and also causes the greatest number of cancer-related deaths among women.-PR