Tawam Hospital, in affiliation with John Hopkins Medicine, is launching an extensive breast cancer awareness campaign (BCAC) in October – a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness globally.

This annual campaign is organised by Tawam Hospital and supported by the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi (Haad), and Seha, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in Abu Dhabi.

The campaign will target all UAE residents, but the majority of activities will take place in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and particularly the remote areas of the emirate of Abu Dhabi that suffer from extremely low awareness levels.

This year, Tawam Hospital’s BCAC is under the theme ‘Early Detection is your Best Protection’. The campaign will comprise daily and weekly awareness activities that are dedicated to educating women, men and families on breast cancer prevention in terms of early detection and regular screenings.

“Early detection of breast cancer is crucial for successful treatment, and people need to understand this in order to become more proactive in terms of taking regular screenings and self examinations seriously,” said Dr Shamsa Al Awar, chairperson of Tawam Breast Cancer Awareness Committee.

The 3rd Annual Tawam Hospital ‘Fun Run’ will be held at Al Tuwaya Public Park in Al Ain.

The Tawam Hospital BCAC has chosen October 26 to launch ‘Pink Day’. Every year Tawam Hospital celebrates ‘Pink Day’ internally.

All activities taking place throughout the month of October will include free screening for women aged 40 and above (nationals and residents of Abu Dhabi), using the Tawam Hospital Mobile Mammography Van.

Based on the Abu Dhabi Community Profile  findings prepared by the global initiative for Breast Cancer Awareness Team at Haad, breast cancer has been identified to be the first of the ten most common cancers in the UAE for national and non-national women and the second cause of death accounting for 28 per cent of all female deaths in the UAE. 

With notable high incidence and a mortality rate of 44 per cent, due to late diagnosis, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the UAE and the leading cause of deaths amongst female malignant diseases, added Dr Anwar.-TradeArabia News Service