COME OCTOBER, everything turns pink. Right from women's magazines and voluntary organisations to hospitals and socially committed business establishments. Ever wondered how much of these efforts pay off in the fight against breast cancer?
As the pink fades from public memory along with the month of October, Womenone.org takes a round up of the various breast cancer awareness campaigns that ran in Dubai to see what these campaigns have achieved.
More importantly, whether these campaigns have been successful in shaking off the ever so present it-won't-happen-to-me attitude women seem to possess, and prod them into action that can considerably increase their chances of escaping death and other mortifying ramifications of the disease.
"In the fight against breast cancer, early detection is the only weapon we have. We can reduce the risk factors by taking care of our body and being aware of the medical background of the disease. But that does not add up to much in the way of prevention as about 70 percent of the breast cancer cases do not present any risk factors," stresses Dr Rosalie A Sant, Specialist Gynaecologist and Obstetrician, Welcare Hospital, Dubai.
It has been found that 95 percentage of women who are detected early stand the chance of being free of the disease at five years whereas if detected late, only a meagre 20 percent would be disease free after five years. The rest either have a recurrence of it or succumb to it.
So the best women can do to counter the disease is to religiously follow certain guidelines to ensure early detection. Conduct self-examination of the breasts every month. Follow it up with yearly check ups with doctors, and once you cross forty, make it a habit to do mammography regularly.
And that is exactly what Dr Rosalie told women at lectures conducted in various universities and women's organizations in the UAE by BurJuman to create awareness about the disease.
Lectures were just one of the multi-pronged strategies BurJuman used for its Safe and Sound campaign this year. Drawing from the well of experience it had gained over six years of organizing such events, BurJuman stretched itself to reach out to a greater number of people this time by distributing informative leaflets at various touch points of its partners such as Eppco, Enoc and HSBC.
With an eye on garnering mass support for the cause, it introduced a pink signature book that travelled, and is still travelling, to various educational institutions, business establishments, hotels and organisations in the UAE. Health hotline, which was introduced last year by its partner Johnson and Johnson, was open this year too so that women could access information on the disease from the confines of their homes.
To top it all, the awareness clinic, which has been the mainstay of its campaign, made its appearance at Burjuman on the first of October itself. Manned by nurses from the Welcare Hospital, the clinic provided information about the disease along with video presentations for women on how to conduct self-examination of the breasts.
"In a span of 18 days, the clinic saw more than 5000 women, local and expatriate, visit it. It is certainly a great improvement from the mere 500 women we had during our first year of campaign. And I am not counting the innumerable women touched by our partners at their various outlets in this lot. Today, what you see at BurJuman is the biggest platform of breast cancer awareness campaign in the UAE," says Ms Sabina Khandwani, Head of Research and Marketing at BurJuman.
BurJuman indeed has dominated the awareness campaign scene in the region, a domination marked for years by its courage and conviction in being the first to go vocal about a very sensitive issue. To the credit of other organizations, they have wholeheartedly followed the path beaten out by BurJuman.
A major player in the global breast cancer awareness campaigns for twelve years, the Estee Lauder companies have been contributing its might to the campaigns in this region for the past four years. The campaign got off to a great start this year by lighting the architectural marvel of Dubai, the Burj Al Arab, in pink on October 1 keeping with its initiative of illuminating global landmarks. It was followed by a media blitzkrieg for the whole month of October conducting promotional events.
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In a departure from the usual, the Estee Lauder companies did something this year that would leave a lasting impression in the battle against breast cancer. They associated with artist Parameshwaram to put up about 10 of his paintings - all on the theme of women - for sale, the proceeds of which would go to Dr Houriya Kazim Breast Cancer Research Fund.
Setting up of such funds for research assumes greater significance in the absence of a central government registry on the disease in the UAE. "A national registry on breast cancer which would throw light on statistics, demographics and history of women affected by the disease would certainly be very helpful in countering it. I have noticed a higher rate of incidence in women belonging to the younger, 30-35 age bracket in clinics here as compared to the west. And it is seen more in the local women and women from Philippines and Malaysia. We do not know the reasons for it as yet," points out Dr Rosalie.
All the more reason to raise awareness about the importance of early detection. As a step towards encouraging women to take steps to ensure early detection, hospitals chipped in with special rates for mammography and free examination clinics on specific days during the month of October. This year saw a lot more women make it to the free examination clinics than previous years. Majority of the women who came to the free examination clinics knew about breast self examination, but were not sure of how to go about it and how often to conduct the examination. Doctors explained to them the right method and the changes they should be on the look out for, and when they should think about going for a mammography. Welcare Hospital, American Hospital, Al Mousa Medical Centre, Al Zahra Private Medical Centre, Dubai were a few of the many hospitals which were in the forefront of the campaign.
Such concerted efforts are hard to go unnoticed. Nor is the barrage of messages entreating women to be on the lookout for breast cancer likely to escape notice. Yet the big question remains. Are these efforts good enough to shake off the nonchalance and adopt these messages? Does being aware of the pitfalls associated with breast cancer make them adopt measures that would ensure early detection? In order to get an answer to these questions, we only have to look at ourselves and ask how many of us did a self-examination this month? The answer would be a pointer towards the way we respond to such campaigns.
Whatever the answer, we cannot ignore the pivotal role such campaigns play in educating women.
"Awareness campaigns are about changing mindsets, breaking down barriers. Four years ago, local women used to run at the mention of breast cancer. They would not even enter the clinics. Now they are willing participants in the campaign. Once you make women aware, there is a big chance of them acting on it. We are exploring means of issuing reminders about self examinations and conducting mammography so that we can take the campaign a step ahead," says Ms Khandwani.
With a vibrant and active private sector exhibiting such commitment to the cause, there seems to be hope in the fight against breast cancer. But we need to keep in mind that this is not an issue which is to be taken out of the closet only once a year. It is a continuing battle and the onus is on every woman. As Ms Khandwani puts it, it is an exercise in continuity.
