National Breast Cancer Awareness month: All you need to know
Breast cancer awareness month (BCAM) is also known as National Breast Cancer Awareness month in America. October is breast cancer awareness month, an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease. It is declared by the government, media and cancer survivors. The breast Cancer awareness drive starts from October 2 and will last a month. It is an effort to reduce the stigma related to breast cancer through education and awareness. Prior knowledge will lead to earlier detection of the disease and thus results in a higher long-term survival rate.
In Pakistan, Breast Cancer claims 40,000 lives every year. On the other hand, in India, it has become the most common cancer among women.
Breast Cancer Advocacy
Breast cancer advocacy is a type of health advocacy. Breast cancer advocates help raise funds and lobby for better care and patient empowerment. They also conduct educational campaigns to promote free and low-cost services. The Breast Cancer culture is also called the pink ribbon culture, which indicates a more significant women’s health movement.
As breast cancer awareness month in October, many organisations and health institutes receive financial support from corporate sponsorship. We need to stop feeling ashamed of talking about a specific part of our body and observe it regularly to develop an understanding of a normal breast.
Understanding normal breast
Normal breast feels different at different times of the month. During the reproductive period till menopause, the milk-producing tissue in the breast becomes active a few days before. In some women, the breast at this time feels lumpy, especially near the armpits. At the time of post-menopause, activities in the milk-producing tissue stop.
Still, many people in India don’t know about Breast Cancer. Breast Cancer is considered the second type of common cancer in women. Every 1 in 8 women born today has a possibility of getting detected with breast cancer at some point in her life. Well, Breast cancer is treatable if caught in the early stage.
Know Your Lemons
It is essential to know the same to detect cancer early. Many people look at heart pictures to create awareness about breast cancer among women, but will the heart picture impart any knowledge- ‘NO’, right? So, it is important to talk more and more about it.
A woman has penned down her experience who was detected with Breast cancer:
She wrote that a cute heart wouldn’t help anyone to know about Breast Cancer. She further mentioned this in her article. In December 2015, someone shared a picture of Breast Cancer symptoms or what it looked like, and she suddenly got to know that she was also a patient with Breast Cancer in the fourth stage.
How Breast cancer looks like
She said instead of sharing something cute, which doesn’t help anyone. It is good to share accurate information about the disease.
Even if you don’t know about Breast Cancer, you can look at the image above and get a slight idea of what Breast cancer looks like (not feel like maybe). This is the creative idea by the Worldwide Breast Cancer organization to spread awareness with the twist of lemons. If you can closely watch the image, you can see the manipulated photos of lemons, which hint at types of Breast Cancer.
Conclusion
Breast cancer has been known to educate women for years. However, the horror of the non-treatable disease has become taboo in society. The movement, which originated from the feminist and women’s health movements, has successfully removed these taboos to a massive extent through its modern advocacy and awareness campaigns.
Share it and spread awareness!
Edit- Ayushi Mittal
