Supreme Court glows in pink to mark breast cancer awareness month

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was glowing pink in the federal capital on Saturday to mark the start of the annual breast cancer awareness month from October 1 (today) through the breast cancer awareness campaign PINKtober.

The annual campaign is spearheaded by Pink Ribbon Pakistan, an organisation working to raise awareness regarding breast cancer.

The event, at Pakistan's top court, was organised to extend solidarity with the campaign and millions of Pakistani women.

Pink Ribbon's founder Omer Aftab spoke on the occasion and said that it is indeed an honour for the organisation to illuminate the highest court of appeal in Pakistan for such a noble cause.

"Involvement of such a sanctified institution has provided hope to thousands of breast cancer patients in Pakistan," he said in a statement issued by Pink Ribbon, expressing gratitude to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial for his "generous support" for the cause.

Every year, at least 40,000 lives are lost to breast cancer due to ignorance, late diagnosis, and myths related to the disease. If diagnosed at an early stage, breast cancer is the only type of cancer — among others — which can be cured successfully.

Pink Ribbon further shared that over 10 million Pakistani women are at a high risk of getting breast cancer in their lifetime, as per the new statistics.

"We need to re-establish our health structure based on better-researched statistics of disease burden. Besides this, a special focused awareness drive is required to promote the concept of 'prevention is better than cure' as a better healthy lifestyle can prevent breast cancer up to 40%,"  the organisation's statement read.