Campaigners in Bangladesh to observe Saturday as breast cancer awareness day

October is the month when international awareness about breast cancer is promoted worldwide but organisations that work on this disease in Bangladesh have been observing Oct 10 as a day of cancer awareness since 2013.

“Month-long celebration sometimes loses attention and that’s why we have decided to make a specific day for building awareness about this disease,” cancer epidemiologist Dr Md Habibullah Talukder Ruskin told bdnews24.com.

He leads the celebration as an advisor to the Centre for Cancer Prevention and Research (CCPR).

He said on Saturday, programmes would be held at least in 40 districts focusing on ‘think pink’, a symbol of cancer awareness campaign.

“We want to highlight the fact that breast cancer is a silent killer, but if we can detect and treat it early, many can survive.”

Breast cancer tops the list among the cancers women suffer in Bangladesh. There is no national registry system to know the total number of cases.

But Paris-based the International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates every year at least 15,000 new breast cancer patients add up in Bangladesh.

Delayed marriage, tendency to take babies lately and not to breastfeed children are some of the factors believe to be responsible for more breast cancer cases.

Dr Ruskin said detection and treatment facilities must be spread across Bangladesh. “We have to decentralise those procedure so that all women can come up under screening and treatment if needed”.

He said with a two-week training, any surgeon can perform breast cancer surgery at the district hospital.

Change in size and shape of breast, discharge from nipples, changes in skin colour of breasts, lumps in breast, and lump or swelling in either of the armpits are some of the symptoms that cancer specialists suggest women must see a doctor.