PESHAWAR: The Public Health Association (PHA) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in collaboration with the Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (IRNUM) organized an awareness session on Breast Cancer Early Detection Initiative of KP here on Saturday.
Spekaing on the occasion, KP Minister for Health & Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra said the KP government is committed to providing high-quality care to breast cancer patients with testing facilities in seven districts.
The event aligned the stakeholders around the continuous engagement needs for increasing awareness about Breast Cancer, the importance of early detection, and availability of affordable treatment.
Breast cancer accounts for approximately 40,000 deaths per year in Pakistan and is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among females. Any woman can develop breast cancer. The disease also occurs in 1% of the male population. Breast cancer puts a lot of financial burden on families while affecting them both emotionally and psychologically. Lack of awareness and early detection, social barriers, and inaccessibility to the health care system are detrimental to the survival of breast cancer patients.
The risk factors include genetic factors like BRCA 1, 2 & p 53 gene mutations, female gender, growing age, high estrogen exposure, obesity, lack of exercise, stress, early menarche, and late menopause, etc.
The speakers emphasized that the majority of the women assume that breast cancer will not happen to them, while the stats point that 1 out 9 women are at risk of suffering from breast cancer in Pakistan.
Any woman over 40 years, or having a family history of breast cancer should go for the Mammography test since early detection saves lives. Switching to healthy eating habits, regular exercise, maintaining a normal weight, and avoiding the use of over-the-counter medication, especially hormonal medicines is recommended by physicians.
Despite the fact that the World Health Organization Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI) has set the target to reduce 2% breast cancer-related deaths per year worldwide, Pakistan lacks a Breast Cancer control program. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the first province to initiate the Breast Cancer Control Programme in Pakistan which was initiated in 2020.
The programme envisions the provision of modern Mammography machines in seven divisions of KP namely, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hazara, Kohat, Malakand, Mardan, and Peshawar.
