Dubai: As part of its annual cancer awareness activities, Friends of Cancer Patients (FOCP) will be marking October as the internatioanl breast cancer month with Pink Caravan.
The FOCP’s intiative that includes free checkups and screenings, webinars and online lectures in four different languages, has been planned in collaboration with several government and private organisations.
Owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Pink Caravan’s event acquire greater significance where the acivtes will reinforce the initiative’s key messages of education, awareness, early detection and timely diagnosis,
Educating the community on Cancer
Announcing the activities, Reem BinKaram, Head of the Pink Caravan’s Higher Steering Committee, said: “At a time when it is difficult to focus on any other health issue apart from Covid-19, Pink Caravan and its partners are keen on emphasising that regular screenings and checkups for breast cancer continue to be as important as before. Fact still remains that early detection can increase survival rates by up to 98 percent.”
“Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosed in the UAE, and Pink Caravan has taken the lead to make the fight against cancer a community goal. While the Covid-19 outbreak may have shifted the format of our annual events, it has not dented our commitment to take forward our agenda of breast cancer awareness and prevention to the wider UAE community, along with our partner network,” she concluded.
Webinars on Cancer
The range of events include free medical checkups and breast screenings for the UAE public at Pink Caravan’s mobile clinics stationed in select destinations in several emirates. Eight webinars featuring specialists in the field from across a cross-section of hospitals in the UAE and four online educational lectures will be held to promote societal awareness of the importance of conducting periodic self as well as clinical checks. The webinars and lectures will be conducted in Arabic, English and Urdu to extend its messaging to a larger segment of the UAE’s multinational community.
Apart from the Pink Caravan’s team of doctors, webinar speakers will include health officials from University of Sharjah, Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai Health Authority, and specialists from Mediclinic Middle East and Zulekha Healthcare Group. The online lectures are facilitated by Sharjah Ladies Club as part of its Wellness Day activities, Crescent Group, Sharjah Women’s Sports, University of Sharjah, Al Qasimia University, Chalhoub, Sephora and Dubai Properties, Oasis Mall Sharjah and Al Ain Pharmacy will spearhead fund-raising activities and Hard Rock will raise funds through sales of relevant merchandise.
