‘Pakistan has highest breast cancer rate among Asian countries’

Pakistan has the highest breast cancer rate among Asian countries. Young women also have been diagnosed with advanced stage of breast cancer. In rural areas, women are also developing breast cancers every year because it is an inherited disease, which transmits from mother to daughter.

These views were expressed by Adeel Ahmed, Manager Marketing and Administration at the Oncothermia Clinics, during an awareness programme about breast cancer at the Lyceum school, held on Thursday. The programme was arranged by Sara Shafi, student of A-Level at The Lyceum School.

According to her, the initiative to arrange the programme regarding breast cancer awareness was to target young women, school teachers, staff and students in collaboration with the Oncothermia Clinics, using the latest state-of-the-art technique to treat different types of cancers. “The goal of this awareness programme is to educate about breast cancers, its causes and consequences, early detection and screening tests, risk factors, and prevention strategies.”

Adeel Ahmed said breast cancer was on the rise among young women, including unmarried girls in Pakistan, and alarmingly women in early 40s were being diagnosed with this lethal disease, unlike the rest of the world where the onset of the disease is usually seen in the mid to late 60s.

He added there were many misconceptions attached to breast cancer among women including many wrong concepts and believes that breast cancer was contagious. “Of all the breast cancer cases diagnosed in Pakistan, around 12 to 19 percent cases are of unmarried girls. Prolonged use of estrogens like oral pills for birth control can also trigger the risk of breast cancer in next generation of such woman. Woman delivering first baby after age of 30 years also have increased risk of breast cancer.”

For diagnosis of disease at very early stage, every girl after puberty should do self-examination, and if any lump is found, she should immediately consult any specialist for check-up and screening, he added.  “Every woman after age of 40 years should get her screened for breast cancer once a year.”