Awareness & Education

Breast cancer has been declared by the World Health Organization as the most common cancer, globally affecting women and claiming the lives of thousands of women every year.  One out of nine women is diagnosed with breast cancer. In the Asian countries, including Pakistan, the overall incidence rate and the lifetime risk of breast cancer for local women has significantly increased, not only alerting us to this major health hazard but also cautioning us to take prompt action to meet the challenge.  Lack of awareness, is the key reason of highest incidence and mortality rate in Pakistan. In a country where speaking about health issues specifically related to women is frowned upon, urging people to take these issues seriously is an onerous task. This harsh and tragic reality aggravates the inequity surrounding women’s breast health education initiatives in the local community.

Early detection of Breast Cancer can save innumerable lives lost by women every year. To ensure the impact of this much needed awareness, we aim to create holistic platforms that could reach out to the most marginalized women of Pakistan. These platforms will focus on educating women about their health, stabilizing their independence, and eventually empowering them permanently. In addition to this, we also aim to mitigate the risks of breast cancer by providing necessary literature to the masses to increase awareness of the disease, while providing access to necessary resources that would facilitate the management and treatment of positive cases of breast cancer.

The execution of these education and awareness campaigns is done via engagement of volunteers, involvement of community health workers and capacity building of public health infrastructure. We, along with our partnered institutions, organize seminars, conferences, workshops, and training activities focused at the public, especially the minorities, the differently abled, and the underprivileged communities of Pakistan.

Diagnosis & Early Detection

In a country like Pakistan where talking and discussing about this sensitive and delicate issue is still considered a taboo, it is crucial to educate the marginalized and underprivileged group for an early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.

Pink Pakistan aims at eradicating breast cancer throughout Pakistan through early detection and treatment. The trust will establish linkages between primary health care units and tertiary health care centers to address the issue and will direct patients through a channel of referral mechanism to garner required treatment at an early stage.

We intend to introduce he following diagnostic methods and educate women  thoroughly regarding the treatment options:

  • BSE – Breast Self-Examination
  • Clinical Breast Examination
  • Mammography Screening
  • Ultrasound, MRI
  • Biopsy and Lab tests

Cure & Treatment

Following the detection and diagnosis, Pink Pakistan’s plan of action revolving around the patient begins at the cure and treatment stage. We aim to tag the patient with a single point of contact, who will assist the patient with the proceedings. The patient will be guided and taken to the necessary appointments with the referred doctors around the country. Pink Pakistan understands the hesitancy and reluctance of patients, considering how out-of-bounds the topic of breast cancer is in Pakistan, and therefore, aims at providing complete support with a single point of contact, allowing the patient to feel comfortable on their road to recovery.

Counselling & Support

The provision of counselling and guidance to patients through Pink Pakistan’s face-to-face counselling sessions, as well as online care unit is a crucial step in spreading awareness and encouraging treatment. Pink Pakistan will provide family and patient counselling to address the issue of breast cancer throughout Pakistan. It is surprising indeed that in a country where speaking about women’s health  issues is frowned upon, there are individuals who have suffered and borne this tragic and harsh reality bravely;  and these survivors also have stories that are incredibly empowering.

Pink Pakistan will equip the survivors with the necessary training to educate the women regarding breast cancer and share their immensely powerful stories with them.

Research

Breast cancer is a complex disease but can be completely cured if detected at an early stage. We believe that investing in research produces remarkable and tangible results. For Pink Pakistan, research is not confined to labs. In fact, research is improving care, producing better outcomes, and transforming lives. Accordingly, Pink Pakistan encourages researchers to tackle the disease from every angle including social, economic, psychological, political, medicinal, and biological.

One of our pivotal initiatives is to develop a National Database and gather data regarding the occurrences, incidence rate, and survival rates of Breast Cancer patients in Pakistan. The data gathered exclusively from the region will help shape our approach and the statistics gathered will be a provision to International bodies as well. This National Database will help us to develop strategies and take counter measures to tackle Breast Cancer in Pakistan.

Our country lacks information regarding breast cancer cases, which once attained, will help shape policies that limit the cases and provide facilities for necessary healthcare drives in different locations. Therefore, our prime initiative focuses on gathering data about breast cancer in Pakistan. Our teams are spread across diverse local areas to collect data and record it to aid our implementation strategy. Heredity, ethnicity, lifestyles, and prevention are other key areas of our research.

Social Engagement

Pink Pakistan intends to create engaging communities throughout Pakistan, where the sole purpose of these communities would be to support our mission to improve the quality of life of the women in our country. With the development of several outreach programs for students, healthcare professionals, private and public organizations and other advocates that stand for the same cause, we aim to move fast and with full force to achieve our goals.

The young generation is the driving force of any nation and must be nurtured and protected at all cost Unfortunately, more than 65 percent of young individuals in Pakistan have fallen victim to breast cancer As a matter of fact, the incidence rate and diagnosis of breast cancer is most common among women of a younger age group in Pakistan.

This can be achieved through knowledge dissemination using social media platforms and tools which are popular amongst the younger generation, including Facebook, Instagram and the social messaging platforms. Awareness regarding breast cancer can be created by conducting seminars, conferences, workshops, and training activities both remotely and online.

This program aims at spreading awareness and connecting people who are in a similar situation to help reduce feelings of anxiety, isolation or fear of breast cancer. Breast Cancer support groups, which can provide a sense of community, enable patients to share their experiences and learn different ways of dealing with problems.

Additionally, it will be offering an online support system to connect people with someone with a similar experience of breast cancer so they can share experiences on an online forum, exchange information on coping with the side effects of treatment, ask questions, and share experiences and concerns.

Institutional Capacity Building Program

Pink Pakistan aims to provide one-stop, holistic breast-health services including awareness raising, educational sessions, screening and patient support, particularly for the marginalized community. Pink Pakistan will address this issue by capacity building of the public sector health infrastructure, strengthening and setting up of primary health care units, clinics, diagnostic centers, hospitals, counselling services and establishing a link and referral mechanism with secondary and tertiary health care units for early detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Technology Integration

We stand in the present to strengthen the future for women all over Pakistan and beyond. While we emphasize on the importance of spreading awareness and early diagnosis, followed by treatment, we also plan to reach the highest number of women via technology integration. Pink Pakistan will initiate an application that will serve as a platform for women of all ages and areas to access information about breast cancer, including self-examination techniques and analysis, while recording it in our database to reach these women if need be. We believe this will help us push women to attain the right treatments at the right time, while also alarming them of a possible risk.