Breast Cancer Awareness

Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in the whole of Asia, with every 9th woman at high risk of getting breast cancer in her life. Approximately 90,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year in which 40,000 women die in Pakistan. Prevalence of breast cancer is the maximum amongst all the cancers in Pakistan, i.e. 38.5%. However, the number of unreported cases is expected to be much more.

We realized that the pervasive prevalence of this disease was causing due to the lack of awareness and social taboo as talking about breast cancer was linked to female sexuality. Thus, we started a nationwide breast cancer awareness program which gradually moved up to the level of healthcare consultancy and mobile diagnosis facilities, and now we are building Pakistan’s first dedicated breast cancer hospital.

Unfortunately, lots of cultural and social taboos along with myths and misconceptions are associated with breast cancer contributing to high mortality rates as most of the women report at stage III and IV, thus reducing the chances of survival. On the other hand, the total spending on the health sector is dismally low, i.e. 3.58% of the total government expenditure. The available human resource in the health sector in Pakistan is also quite low as it shows a ratio of 1,127 persons per doctor and the ratio of female doctors, especially surgeons, radiologists and oncologists are even less.

Societal and cultural mores combined with poor access to rural healthcare for females limit the access to the information available on breast cancer and discourage both public and private discussion, advice, early discovery, and treatment among women.

Therefore, creating widespread awareness is our principal goal and our mission is to become a Centre of Excellence for Breast Care Information & Treatment.
During this program WEG has reached out to over 12 million women and over 1.3 million female students, empowering them with knowledge and techniques to detect breast cancer at an early stage. We have also provided a free clinical examination to 29,000 symptomatic patients through expert doctors and free mammogram screening to over 3,700 high-risk women, and now we are building Pakistan’s first dedicated breast cancer hospital that is just near to completion. But what stands out the most in all of our achievements is the fact that there has been a 30% increase in patient turn-up at Breast Cancer Clinics nationwide since we started campaigning.