Every year, around 100,000 women in Pakistan were being diagnosed with breast cancer: Begum Alvi

ISLAMABAD, Feb 15 (SABAH): Begum Samina Arif Alvi on Tuesday said every year, around 100,000 women in Pakistan were being diagnosed with breast cancer and stressed timely diagnosis as the major solution to the alarming situation.

Speaking here at the breast cancer awareness event held at Islamabad Model College for Girls, Begum Samina Arif Alvi said every 13 minutes, a woman in Pakistan was being diagnosed with breast cancer with an alarming 45 percent mortality rate.

Begum Samina Arif Alvi emphasized that 90 percent of such women patients could recover from the disease with help of early screening and diagnosis. She said raising awareness among women about self-diagnosis could save thousands of precious lives. Not only the women patients, she said, the painful disease with expensive treatment also affected their close ones in form of psychological and financial trauma. She expressed satisfaction that her awareness drive about breast cancer was going on successfully across the country and urged the women to spread the word to at least 10 women.

Samina Alvi said the awareness campaign would not only limit to the month of October but would continue throughout the year. She also urged the male members of the family to realize the suffering attached with the disease and support women to get proper medical care. Begum Alvi said women in the country were playing a vital role in all fields of life, adding that it was important to be concerned about their well-being. She urged upon all cross-sections of society, particularly men to join hands in raising awareness about breast cancer. She lauded the role of media in spreading the word on breast cancer through special television programmes and newspaper articles.

Earlier, Principal IMCG Aliya Durrani gave an outline of the activities of the college and emphasized the significance of raising awareness among girl students on important issues including breast cancer.