The world highlighted and emphasized the importance of beast cancer awareness this week and Jeddah participated in this campaign. However, media outlets didn’t cover the event in a way that met people’s expectations and the need to inform them.
It’s not easy to eliminate and win the battle against this life-threatening disease without organizing an awareness campaign in an effective manner. Perhaps social awareness about breast cancer is a goal that we should think about and plan for well before the next year’s event.
When a woman receives the news from her doctor that she has breast cancer, she quickly enters into a state of illusions and hallucinations. Her life becomes a series of unnecessary worries. Psychological and emotional stress might drive her to jump from one hospital to another and this may jeopardize her diagnosis and her treatment. Therefore, media coverage is truly crucial not just because the disease is deadly but also because people aren’t aware that breast cancer can be cured with a 95 percent success rate if it is diagnosed in early stages.
People shouldn’t listen to rumors and incorrect medical opinions that causes the escalation of anxiety and paranoia and leads to too many useless medical investigations and consultations. Some doctors, it is true, have such bad habits either because of ignorance or greed. Some unprofessional doctors even do mammogram tests on women who are under the age of 40 when in fact mammograms are meant for women who are 40 or older.
Planning for next year’s awareness campaign requires the participation of the private health sector and companies dealing in hospital equipment and medications. Their contribution this year was really minimal and below the standards of their huge commercial role. What was interesting was the participation of companies in which social responsibility is a priority agenda. These companies should act as role models for companies and institutions taking part in next year’s campaign.
And to help make the campaign succeed next year, we must essentially have a united goal. And we must build medical centers not only in cities but in rural areas also for scanning and facilitating treatment of breast cancer, especially for women who can’t afford expensive treatment.
