Pink ribbon draws attention to rising breast cancer cases

RIYADH: Over 10,000 women gathered on Saturday night at the Princess Nora University, the world's biggest women-only university, to form what is believed to be the world's largest human pink ribbon shape on record.

Forming the shape was a major component of several activities conducted throughout the night to mark the launch of a one year breast cancer awareness campaign initiative in the Kingdom, entitled "10KSA", led by both Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud and Modia Batterjee, who is the founder of Al-Bidayah Breastfeeding Resource & Women's Center, and is also vice president of the Human Resource Department at Batterjee Group Ltd.
The initiative, run by the Alf Khair (A thousand blessings) charity foundation, which is chaired by Princes Reema, aims to draw the nation’s attention to the increasing number of breast cancer cases and deaths. The campaign also provides much needed education on prevention and treatment options to women around the nation.
Several ministries, government agencies and private sector organizations are engaged in the initiative, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Affairs, Princess Nora University, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, the General Presidency for Sports and Youth Welfare, the Saudi Fund for Human Resources, Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Saudi Arabian Olympic Association, and other sponsor companies.
The event included narrative sessions in which survivors of the disease were honored. The women talked about how they discovered their afflictions, and about how they broke down their walls of fear in order to go and receive treatment, as well as about how they coped after treatment.
The event also included lectures and workshops about the disease, such as "what is it?", "How it can be discovered", as well as about how self check-up techniques can help women to get better in the long term through early detection.
Although the long ribbon activity was intended for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records, forming the human ribbon shape was not the goal in itself: "We hope that 10KSA will not just break records, but will also get people to talk about women’s health (including breast cancer)," Princess Reema said.
The princess hoped that the event would contribute to raising SR5 million to kick start an endowment fund for the Zahra Breast Cancer Association of which she is founding member. Zahra Breast Cancer Association is an organization committed to helping women through a difficult journey and into a place of healing and good health.
Sponsors in Saudi Arabia such as Alwaleed Philanthropies, Uber, General Electric and Al-Saif Construction Company have pledged their support to Zahra. Reports say that few women survive breast cancer in Saudi Arabia because there is much less screening leading to the late discovery of the disease.
This is due mostly to stigma and cultural reasons, which can be countered with awareness and education.