Bahraini Activist to Launch ‘Breast Cancer’ Awareness Drive
by mahmood on 01/10/09 at 1:13 pm
A breast cancer survivor is set to launch her fifth campaign to encourage women to go for self-examination to combat the deadly disease.
During the one-year campaign ‘iCheck’ that will start from October 1, Jules Sprakel along with her team, try to highlight to women that early detection of breast cancer has helped save the lives of thousands of women.
She told Khaleej Times that the campaign’s main message is “Your Life is in Your Hand Say ‘iCheck’”. The campaign is organised by Think Pink Bahrain, an NGO founded by Sprakel in 2004. It supports the Bahrain Cancer Society (BCS).
In the early 1990s, mortality rate from breast cancer was approximately 6 per cent of deaths from all types of neoplasm in Bahrain. This figure dropped after health authorities introduced National Screening for women for the disease. The screening is conducted in selected health centres and the BCS offers required devices and expertise to conduct mammography.
“Through the campaign I want to raise awareness about breast cancer as I was a victim of it at the early age of 23 and after surviving, I dedicated my life to fight the disease,” she explained.
As part of the campaign, Harley Davidson will be riding Bahrain’s roads with pink flags, while golf tournaments and short documentaries are some of the activities to be undertaken to increase awareness about the disease.
The documentaries will be filmed by a company — Gulf Broadcast — owned by famous Bahraini blogger, Mahmood Al Yousif. “I’m supporting the campaign out of my belief that the perspectives about cancer in general and breast cancer in particular need to be changed. Women feel shy to go for self-examination and that must change,” Al Yousif said.
As part of the plan, Al Yousif’s company will shoot short documentaries with multi-lingual voice overs in Arabic, English, Hindi, Tagalog and Urdu urging women to go for self-check for early detection of breast cancer.
ed: name correction
Source: Khaleej Times
