Amman, 23 October 2016 – In the efforts to promote the early detection of breast cancer WHO staff in Jordan gathered to show their support to the globally celebrated world initiative “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.
This event was part of the national annual awareness campaign, which is organized by the Jordan Breast Cancer Programme and King Hussein Cancer Foundation.
The event aimed at increasing awareness among WHO staff in Jordan about the benefit of early detection of breast cancer, which increases survival rates by up to more than 90%. This event kicked off with a seminar given by Dr Yassar Qutaiba from King Hussein Cancer Center who talked about the symptoms, risk factors, and the screening tests women should perform for breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, marked in countries across the world every October, helps to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment as well as palliative care of this disease. There are about 1.38 million new cases and 458 000 deaths from breast cancer each year (IARC Globocan, 2008). Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and developing countries. In low- and middle-income countries the incidence has been rising up steadily in the last years due to increase in life expectancy, increase urbanization and adoption of western lifestyles.
WHO promotes comprehensive breast cancer control programmes as part of national cancer control plans. The recommended early detection strategies for low- and middle-income countries are awareness of early signs and symptoms and screening by clinical breast examination in demonstration areas. Mammography screening is very costly and is feasible only in countries with good health infrastructure that can afford a long-term programme.
The event concluded with fun activities conducted to test the knowledge of the staff about breast cancer and early detection.