Youth Council Pakistan has organized a Breast Cancer Awareness Session in collaboration with Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital & Research Center and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration at Deputy Commissioner Office Islamabad.
Syed Asma Mustafa member of Youth Council Pakistan moderated the session. Muhammad Shehzad Khan President of Youth Council Pakistan while giving his opening remarks, appreciated the efforts of the YCP team, Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital & Research Center and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration on organizing an awareness session on the very important issue of Breast Cancer.
Salma Kausar, being an anchorperson in PTV, focused more on the issues of awareness concerning this deadly disease. She added that the best way to fight breast cancer is by rooting out the social taboo from our society. The taboo of staying silent on talking about female body parts exists on the grassroots levels of society that is our homes. She also shared an example of a cancer patient from her family. Salma urged the youth to play their role in eradicating such taboos and starting talks about such issues.
Sana Pasha Assistant Commissioner shared her views related to breast cancer while focusing on the medical side of the disease. She shared that she had also been a practicing doctor before joining the civil services of Pakistan. She explained the benefits of early inspection of the symptoms related to breast cancer. She further shared the facilities that are present in Pakistan for the treatment of breast cancer.
Samreen Khan Section Officer at the Ministry of Industries & Production thanked President Youth Council Pakistan, Muhammad Shehzad for raising awareness related to such deadly diseases. She further urged the members of the Youth Council Pakistan to conduct such awareness programs at provincial levels as well. She said that there are many areas in Pakistan where there is no awareness related to breast cancer and even if somebody is aware of it, they cannot dare to talk about it. So, therefore, she said that it is our duty to spread awareness in such areas.
Uzma Salam Campus Head of YCP at NDU Islamabad said that The high prevalence of breast cancer is due to a lack of understanding among women regarding the causes of the disease. The negative social perception of cancer still needs to be changed. Lack of understanding about the disease, socioeconomic level, and a lack of advanced medical facilities are all factors that could delay a breast cancer diagnosis.
Cancer care in Pakistan is still in its infancy. There are numerous constraints, both in terms of labor and infrastructure. In order to address the urgency of breast cancer in Pakistan, multi-pronged measures are needed, including better reporting, case documentation, addressing misapprehension about the disease, and prioritizing healthy lifestyle changes. To promote down-staging and assure the availability of accessible specialized hospitals for breast cancer, the government must invest in cost-effective early breast cancer screening measures. Every everyone has a responsibility to speak up about the issue and do their part as an obligation to it.
Shiza Safdar Member YCP highlighted that there are awareness campaigns going on in urban areas like in hospitals universities, it’s shown on TVs and we all have access to it through our mobiles but our rural population is still unaware of it because they have no access and they don’t even go to universities or such hospitals. So for them, there should be campaigns in rural areas, we should form a proper team that would work for breast cancer awareness in rural areas, just like the tiger force (formed for COVID awareness) or the polio team, so that they can be aware people of its causes, symptoms and how to deal with it. Amara Malik Member YCP gave suggestions about the awareness of Breast Cancer Prevention and said that as we all know that Pakistani women specifically in Rural areas don’t prefer to go to male gynecologist/ doctors so they should increase the female staff. Ali Mujahid Media Coordinator YCP and Arshia MahGull Deputy Campus Dead of YCP at IIUI female campus Islamabad also expressed their views about breast cancer prevention.
The chief guest of the session Ms Asma Sanaullah Additional Deputy Commissioner Islamabad agreed with the other speakers about their views of the social taboo that exists in our society. She said that the government is trying its best to raise awareness related to such issues. She urged the participants to play their role in raising further awareness related to breast cancer in Pakistan.
At the end the Guest Speakers distributed certificates among the participants.
