LAHORE – Every year 40,000 people die of breast cancer in Pakistan, mostly due to late diagnosis and the “stigma” attached to the fatal disease, the US National Institute of Health MD Jo Anne Zujewski said in an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today.
Zujewski, who heads the breast cancer therapeutics clinical investigation branch in Washington, visited Pakistan to increase awareness about breast cancer. She visited different public and private health facilities in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad and met various people including government officials, doctors and women from different strata of society. Sharing her experience, she said people are shy about the disease due to the stigma attached to it.
“A girl having some problem in her breast said her parents do not want to take her for a checkup because they fear a positive diagnosis will create hurdles in not only her marriage but in her sisters’ as well,” she said, adding that entire families should be made aware of the disease to dispel the stigma attached to the fatal disease.
“Women are shy about diagnosis and going to a male doctor for a checkup…they are worried about the stigma it brings to the family,” she added. Comparing the incidence of breast cancer in the US with that of Pakistan, Zujewski said as per figures of the International Agency on Research on Cancer (IARC) the number of breast cancer deaths in both the countries is the same despite double the incidence in the US.
Moreover, she said the Globocon statistics put the incidence and mortality in Pakistan at the highest in South East Asia. She said cancer registry is not available on the national level in Pakistan but only on the hospital level and that too not all hospitals. To a question, she said 70 percent of late diagnosis is the cause of a high mortality rate.
“You can control it if it is in the breast, but cannot control it if it spreads to other parts,” she said, adding that a majority of the country’s population consists of youth, implying more older women will get cancer with the passage of time. She also highlighted insufficient diagnostic facilities, further saying that the already available facilities are also not being utilized fully because women are not taking advantage of them.
Talking about the causes of breast cancer, she said nothing could be said for sure about the real cause of the disease, however, one third of breast cancers are related to obesity, lack of physical exercise and taking hormones pills after menopause. She further said misperceptions about the disease should be dispelled, saying wearing tight under garments, marital status and family history of a woman do not cause breast cancer in any way.
She also said the number of lady health workers is insufficient, adding that young women should self examine their breasts every month., while at 40 years of age the examination should be done every year. “Early diagnosis is going to save life and hence not only women but men should also be made aware of the fact to control the incidence and a high mortality rate,” Zujewski concluded.
