Breast cancer is curable if detected early, but there are several factors that hamper an early diagnosis. Majority of women themselves tend to ignore the need for timely screening, and then there are those with limited access to clinics and hospitals.
Even when there are no issues related to affordability, access and willingness, the rather conservative social environment prevents them from sharing their concerns with family members. All these factors combine together to take away lives of more than 40,000 women every year in the country.
Last year, the Supreme Court ordered the provision of mammography facilities and the involvement of women doctors in all hospitals run by federal and provincial governments. But such measures can only be effective if women have knowledge about breast self-examination.
We need to shun social taboos at least when it comes to critical health issues.
We need to educate women about self-examination, and remove barriers to early detection in order to save precious lives.
HAANI MUSTAFA
KARACHI
