Breast Cancer Awareness Month, observed every October, is a globally recognized initiative aimed at raising awareness about breast cancer, the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide. During this month, numerous activities and campaigns are usually organized to promote early detection and screening. Pink ribbons, a symbol of breast cancer awareness, are prominently displayed, while landmarks are often illuminated in pink to draw attention to the cause. Additionally, various educational events, seminars, and workshops are conducted to inform the public about the importance of regular breast self-exams and mammograms. Fundraising efforts, such as charity walks and runs, contribute to research and support for individuals battling breast cancer.
Overall, Breast Cancer Awareness Month serves as a crucial platform for disseminating information, encouraging early detection, and rallying communities in the fight against this disease. But is this enough? And what about the rest of the year?
A new campaign by Nabta Health prominently featuring the company’s Founder & CEO Sophie Smith asks exactly these questions and encourages others to join them as they #UnthinkThePink. Goal of the new awareness campaign is to encourage advocacy and action for better women’s health beyond Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all year round.
Smith shares on LinkedIn:
It’s October.
While the whole world is thinking pink, we’re here today to ask you to *unthink* it. To be bold enough to have a different, and potentially difficult, conversation with us.
Today, 80% of breast cancers in MENA are diagnosed at Stage 4, which has a 27% five-year survival rate, versus 99% at Stages 1 and 2. It’s much better to be diagnosed at Stages 1 and 2, but we’re not reliably doing it.
Why?
For many reasons:
🚫 Taboos
🚫 Stigma
🚫 Fear
🚫 Lack of access
🚫 Cost of treatmentAnd Breast Cancer Awareness Month is not helping.
It’s become so ingrained in our heads that “October is the month to get checked”, that if we miss it, we tell ourselves, “Never mind – next October”.
We forget that cancer is (usually) a disease that creeps up on us – with collections of symptoms over days, weeks and months. By the time the symptoms are so obvious that a checkup can no longer be avoided, it’s often too late.
Understanding the signs and symptoms of the different cancers is essential, but understanding your body and listening to it, often, daily, is more so.
So we’re here today to ask you – humbly, fiercely, boldly – to #UnthinkThePink, and to make women’s health – your health – a conversation that’s had all year round.
Join us.
Women’s Health matters. Advocacy matters. YOUR health matters. Not just in October, but on every single day of the year. Here at Femtech Insider we couldn’t agree more. Unthink the Pink? Continue the conversation? Make a real difference in women’s lives every day? Count us in! 💪
