健康英语新闻:Unawareness about breast cancer more fatal than disease itself in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Samina, 38, was shocked when doctor told her that she has been suffering from breast cancer for three years and due to late diagnosis the disease spread into her bones making the chances of survival very slim.

Samina said that she is trying hard to fight the disease, at the same time she holds the doctors of her village responsible for failing to diagnose the disease in three long years. She is also concerned about her three kids too young to accept any bitter reality.

"I can't see the distressed faces of my children, I can't bear the fear that looms in their eyes, they know that with every coming day their mother is moving a step forward to death," Samina told Xinhua in a very low tone.

When Samina and all other patients of that gloomy medical ward for breast cancer patients, in Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiography (NORI) hospital in Islamabad, were told that October is being observed as breast cancer awareness month they murmured that the awareness message should be reached to every nook and corner of the country this year so that no other woman would die due to unawareness.

In a country like Pakistan where one in nine women is prone to breast cancer and around 40,000 women die every year due to lack of awareness of this disease. They come to visit oncology department of hospitals at a stage when the chances of survival are very remote.

Omer Aftab, National Coordinator of the Pink Ribbon, said that Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer among Asian nations. It is the most common malignancy in women, and accounts for 38.5 percent of all female cancer patients, with 90,000 new cases every year.