WES Celebrates Pinktober
October, also referred to as the Pinktober is internationally celebrated as the breast cancer awareness month so WES feels compelled to be a part of such a great cause.
To start off the breast cancer awareness month, the WES council and the advisor, Dr Flowerday posed together for pictures with placards that had facts about breast cancer written on them.
Secondly, “Miss you Already”, an emotional movie about the journey of a breast cancer patient and her friend was screened. Pink ribbons and brochures were distributed among students as well. WES also arranged for girls to attend an awareness seminar at SKH.
On 30th October, to mark the end of Pinktober, an awareness session was conducted by Women Empowerment Society in collaboration with Shaukat Khanum to spread more information about #5 mins for yourself movement. In the event we had with us Mr Masrur Lodhi and Mr Sajid Ali from Shaukat Khanum along with Dr Afifa. The session started off with Dr Afifa from Shaukat Khanum imparting knowledge and the benefits of early detection and the symptoms that a patient might come across. Students were also made aware of the different stages of breast cancer and the survival rate that is associated with each stage. To conclude the session Maya Ali, the brand ambassador of Shaukat Khanum for the breast awareness campaign spoke on how taking time out for yourself and making yourself aware about breast cancer can save many lives and also how important it is to spread the message to one’s family at home.
Keeping up with our legacy of last year and following in the steps of Chief Student Services Officer, Shawna Person, we also arranged the Pink tea with help from Nadab Parshad, where we invited the female staff members of FCCU to enlighten them about the Breast Cancer awareness campaign. These women who are mostly from underprivileged parts of our society do not have access to awareness platforms and remain uninformed about these issues and how to counter them. We feel that it is our duty and responsibility to reach out to them and get the message across. Dr Sadaf from Mercy Health Center spoke to them at length about the risk factors, prevention strategies, and early detection along with treatment plans for all ages. They were encouraged to approach the Mercy Health Center in case of any ambiguities. The attendees were able to answer all the questions that Dr Sadaf asked them related to her presentation which showed they had not only listened to her intently but were also able to retain that information. Moreover, they did not hesitate to ask questions of their own. Lastly, in order to spread awareness deeper into the community, they were requested to pass on the message to all of their friends and family members.
We are glad to have played a part in this campaign as we believe that it would increase the rate of early detection and reduce the number of deaths caused by breast cancer in Pakistan.
