ShareKUWAIT: Chairman of the Board of the Cancer Aware Nation Campaign, Dr. Khalid Al-Saleh, said awareness contributes to nearly one-third of recoveries from cancer diseases and that early detection helps in increasing recoveries by 30 percent. Al-Saleh spoke at the festival that was held in Mubarakiya on Saturday as part of “Your health is your capital” campaign activities to promote awareness about breast cancer.
He said he will continue to work so as to achieve the best results in the fields of awareness and early detection, in addition to exchanging expertise to achieve integration of action and reach all sections of society with the support of government and private entities in addition to NGOs. He spoke about CAN’s cooperation with societies at the level of the Gulf countries, who have vast experience in this field and are members of the Gulf Federation for Cancer Control. He said volunteer work is affected by the new developments in Gaza and the people’s suffering due to those events.
Al-Saleh received a message from the Director of Aid and Hope for Cancer Patients Society in Gaza, Iman Shannan, in which she said what is going on in Gaza is a tragedy and cancer patients can no longer receive treatment, nor can they reach their treatment centers. Dr. Khalid said he called the Patients Fund Aid in an attempt to help, and they obliged and contacted "Mercy Around the World”, which represents them in Gaza, to extend immediate aid for cancer patients, but they apologized due to the blockade on Gaza.
CAN’s Board and Executive Committee member, Dr. Hussa Al-Shaheen, said the presence of partners in order to support the important educational programs to strengthen women’s health reflects the amount of knowledge about the importance of awareness. She said prevention is among the most important matters CAN seeks to shed light on due to its major effect on building a healthy body by focusing on suitable physical activity for each age. Women’s Voluntary Association for Community Development Dr. Muna Al-Qattan said the association is keen on promoting awareness about the disease and sharing information about it.
She underlined the necessity of providing early detection services in order to increase recovery percentages, adding that death rates dropped by 40 percent between the 1980s of the last century and 2020, according to WHO statistics. She said WHO numbers indicate that there are 1.83 million new cases of breast cancer per year, while the disease kills 458,000 people each year. Although the disease affects women mostly, men are also subject to it at a lesser rate, she added.
She said that the reduction of deaths resulting from breast cancer in the world by 2.5 percent per year will avoid 25 percent of deaths by 2030 and 40 percent by 2040 among women who are less than 70 years old. She said the campaign also focuses on the risks of obesity, which increases the risk of getting breast cancer, and that weight gain must be avoided over time while maintaining a balanced diet rich in vegetables and fruits, in addition to physical activity.
Majid Mohammad from cancer patients friends in Sharqa spoke on behalf of participating Gulf countries said the associations efforts to fight cancer reflects our commitment to joint work in health awareness and providing the best care and support for cancer patients and their families. He said cancer is a health challenge in our gulf societies and can only be avoided through increasing awareness programs and joint cooperation with various sectors to have sustainable plans to alleviate the disease and reach the sought after goals.
