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More women come forward for breast cancer screening

Officials say continuous educational and awareness campaigns have made younger women more aware of the disease, some even to the point of obsession. A huge number of young women are now flocking to health centres to be screened for the disease, they said.

Already covering six emirates, the programme has this year been expanded to include Fujairah.

“We are training more of our specialists for this purpose,” said Dr Hajar Al Hosani, Head of the Central Mother and Childcare Unit at the ministry.

She also heads the National Breast Cancer Screening programme. “Shortage of health professionals is an international issue, and hopefully by training more of our specialists, we will overcome one of the main challenges we face,” she said during an event held on Monday to announce a month-long awareness campaign. In an event held last year, Dr Hajar said that allocation of resources was also among the challenges faced by the programme.

“Due to awareness campaigns, we now see a larger number of younger women approaching health centres for checkups,” said Dr Mona Al Sebelgy, coordinator for the programme in Sharjah. “Some have become obsessed and want to be checked,” she added.

Dr Latifa Al Awadi, Head of Mother and Child Healthcare Unit in Dubai, said earlier women were scared of cancer. “With more awareness, more women are opening up,” she said.

“Even women aged 50-60 are being brought for screening by their children,” she added.

The Ministry of Health, for the first time, published a manual on breast cancer in Braille for the visually challenged. The manual is both in Arabic and English and gives complete information on the disease, screening and self testing methods.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE