Better Reporting and Awareness Campaigns Needed for Breast Cancer in Pakistani Women

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women globally. In 2018, 2.1 million new cases were reported, with 627,000 deaths. Pakistan has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer among Asian countries: one in every nine women has a lifetime risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer. By reason of many misconceptions about the etiology of the disease and socioeconomic factors, Pakistani women have very low rates of early detection and diagnose breast cancer at advance stages with fewer chances of survival. The key to cure the breast cancer is early diagnosis. The aim of current review is to highlight the factors leading to the delays in early presentation of breast cancer in Pakistani women and to summarize possible recommendations for educating women about early diagnosis along with palliative care facilities for patients suffering from breast cancer. Furthermore, this study appeals to both the general public and government in the belief that better reporting and awareness campaigns may bring more women to clinics for early diagnosis.

Keywords:

• breast cancer
• health budget
• Pakistani women
• better reporting; awareness campaigns

Acknowledgment

The authors pay thanks to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81670088 and 81602708) for financial support. The authors would like to express their gratitude to the anonymous referees who helped to improve this paper. NHK is deeply thankful to Piayree Lala, whose presence gives him reason and strength for this contribution in science.

Dedication

NHK dedicates this paper to the memory of his father’s sister, Kaneez Bibi, who was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in June 2019 and died in January 2020, and to the gorgeous Pakistani actress Nadia Jameel, who was diagnosed with stage I breast cancer in April 2020 and recovered.

Author Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, agreed to submit to the current journal, gave final approval to the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors hereby declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.