RIYADH, 24 October 2007 — Saudi Arabia and the United States signed here yesterday a strategic partnership agreement that brings together breast cancer experts and awareness advocates from the two countries in a new war against breast cancer.
The signing ceremony, which was held at the King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) under the auspices of Princess Hessa Al-Shaalan, wife of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, and US first lady Laura Bush, is part of the US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research, a public diplomacy effort by the US State Department.
During her keynote speech at the signing ceremony, Bush said it was a new era in partnerships between the US and the Middle East in the fight against breast cancer.
“Breast cancer does not respect national boundaries, which is why people from every country must share their knowledge, resources and experience to protect women from this disease,” Bush said. “The cure for breast cancer can come from a researcher in Washington or a young doctor in Riyadh,” she added.
Bush, who wore a navy blue pant suit, arrived in Riyadh from the UAE.
“Today, as in the US, people in Saudi Arabia are speaking up,” she told the audience, adding that in the next 25 years, 25 million women in the world will be diagnosed with breast cancer. “This partnership will give hope to women in the Middle East. The American people are proud to stand with you,” she added.
The cancer awareness campaign signifies a new pitch for Saudi-US partnerships, which earlier focused on initiating educational and democratic reforms as well as empowerment of women in the region.
Among those who witnessed the signing ceremony were Prince Faisal ibn Abdullah, honorary president of the Saudi Cancer Society, Minister of Health Hamad Al-Manie, CEO of the King Fahd Medical City Dr. Abdullah Al-Amro, Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Dr. Kendra Woods from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Erin Walsh, a US State Department official.
The US first lady said the partnership would not only build bridges of friendship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, but also help women in the Kingdom and the Middle East to fight the disease.
Bush lauded Dr. Samia Al-Amoudi, a Saudi gynecologist, for her efforts to create awareness about breast cancer by speaking about her own experience dealing with the disease. “Dr. Samia Al-Amoudi is the first Saudi to break the silence and share her experience with breast cancer,” said Bush.
“She’s worked hard to increase women’s awareness and improve medical care even during her own treatment... Thank you so much,” Bush said to a round of applause from the audience.
Bush also spoke about how another Saudi woman, Fadia Al-Taweel, 36, a TV presenter on Saudi Arabian Channel 1, braved the experience of coming out in the open with breast cancer.
The US first lady said the breast cancer partnership program would initiate awareness campaigns, and share discoveries and data that could lead to “world-class research.”
She also explained how the US-Middle East partnership program was initiated in its “birthplace,” Saudi Arabia, when a representative of the US State Department met members of the King Abdul Aziz Women’s Association in Qasim two years ago.
She said the women recalled their experiences of reaching out to 1,200 women in the Kingdom and raising enough money to buy early breast cancer detection equipment. The women began to plan for a real exchange of breast cancer resources between the United States and countries in the Middle East.
“Today I am able to launch the the US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness Research program here in its birthplace in Saudi Arabia,” Bush said.
Al-Amoudi, an assistant professor at King Abdul Aziz University, said in a speech that in Saudi Arabia some 70 percent of breast cancer cases would not be reported until they are at a very late stage compared to 30 percent or less in the US. “And what is equally, if not more ominous, is the fact that 30 percent of our patients are less than 40 years of age,” she said.
Al-Amoudi said many of the hurdles that Saudi women face today are not medical ones. “For example, in this country, until recently it was widely considered socially improper to refer to the disease by name. People would refer to breast cancer as ‘the bad disease’ or ‘that disease,’” she said.
Security at the venue was as tight as that witnessed at international airports. Apart from thorough screening, both by Saudi and American security personnel, Saudi journalists had to wear security cards lumping them with the White House Press Pool.
The US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research brings together KFMC and the Saudi Cancer Society on the Saudi side. On the US side it includes the US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), Susan G. Komen for the Cure (the world’s largest grass root network of breast cancer survivors and activists), and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Saudi Arabia became the third country under the program, along with the UAE and Jordan, to sign up for the battle against breast cancer. The regional partnership program was launched on June 12 last year in Washington, when delegates from Saudi Arabia and the UAE were invited to participate in a three-day conference, discussing their roles in disease research, prevention, treatment and awareness.
Dr. Ezzeldin Ibrahim, chairman of the oncology department and executive director of the research center at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah, said breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in the Kingdom. Some 20.6 percent of all female cancer cases involve breast cancer according to the Saudi Arabian Cancer Registry. Close to two-thirds of women diagnosed with breast cancer in Saudi Arabia are in the advanced stages, compared to only one-third of women in Western countries.
“The average age of Saudi women diagnosed with breast cancer is 40 whereas in the US it is 60. The reason is that the Saudi population is young; the number of people above 60 is small. But the problem is the younger the patient, the more aggressive the cancer,” said Ibrahim.
More than one million new cases of breast cancer are reported worldwide annually and more than 400,000 women die every year from the disease.
