Pink Ribbon, HEC ink MoU to create breast cancer awareness

Islamabad
The Pink Ribbon Campaign and Higher Education Commission (HEC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create widespread awareness regarding breast cancer.
The strategic partnership aims to develop and implement mutual strategies for control of the fatal disease especially by raising awareness among young students on its prevention. Scope of this partnership further includes that HEC and Pink Ribbon will jointly promote research projects on different aspects of breast cancer, organise professional education seminars and workshops to highlight importance of awareness about the disease, and form a working group for need assessment and formulation of action plan for next five years.
The chief executive of Pink Ribbon and executive director of HEC Prof. Mansoor Akbar Kundi signed the agreement. Omer thanked HEC for its continuous support and said that this collaboration will help Pink Ribbon expand its outreach across the country. He referred to high incidence of breast cancer among young girls in Pakistan, and stated that it is very important to make our young girls aware about the prevention and cure of this fatal disease.
Prof. Mansoor assured all possible support on behalf of HEC. He appreciated Pink Ribbon for reaching out to young girls through educational institutes and providing them with information about their health. He also mentioned successful collaboration between HEC and Pink Ribbon in the past, when over 450,000 young girls were reached and given awareness about breast cancer only in four years. Prof. Mansoor also applauded Pink Ribbon for setting up a dedicated breast cancer hospital.
Breast cancer claims more than 40,000 lives every year in Pakistan. One in every ninth woman in Pakistan is at high risk of breast cancer. Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia, yet there is lack of medical facilities for its treatment. Pink Ribbon is building Pakistan’s first Breast Cancer Hospital, which aims to reduce mortality rate by providing state-of-the-art diagnosis facilities to women.