President seeks media’s active role in raising public awareness about the disease
Zubair Qureshi
President Dr Arif Alvi has 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.
The president asked the media organizations to create awareness through public welfare messages, talk shows and newspaper articles during the entire month of October.
President Alvi in his letter mentioned that breast cancer accounted for 44 percent of cancer cases among women in Pakistan and 50 percent of them died due to lack of early diagnosis.
He said early diagnosis could provide 98 percent chances for the women patients to get rid of the disease.
He said the subject remained a taboo in the society and restricted the women to get themselves the required medical consultation.
The president stressed that women should be encouraged to self-check once in every three months as 50,000 out of 100,000 women die due to late diagnosis.
“My wife Samina Alvi and her team had organized various awareness programmes in October that aimed at highlighting the importance of self-diagnosis to minimize the chances of breast cancer,” the president said.
Last year, he said, the media in the country launched an effective awareness campaign to educate people about breast cancer.
He advised the media organizations to paint their logos ‘pink’ as a symbol to highlight the issue of breast cancer.
