Healthcare | Monday 3 October, 2016 4:22 am |

In a Kingdom-wide awareness program to reduce the incidence of breast cancer, the Ministry of Health on Sunday launched a program “Test and Be Assured,” in the capital.
“The national campaign against breast cancer is being launched to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in the Kingdom by raising awareness about the causes of cancer, its preventive methods, and helping women to avail themselves of early detection through mammograms,” an official from the Ministry of Health said, pointing out that the campaign targets women between the age of 18 to 60 years, and those who have a family history of the disease.
He pointed out that early detection provides a 97 percent of chance for complete recovery.
He said that this is the first time such a program is being carried out at a regional level where all Arab women will be covered.
He advised that mammograms would help women detect any changes in their breasts. He also told women to take regular physical exercise daily, for a period of 30 minutes, to keep them fit and healthy. ”Taking hormone treatment after menopause, consuming fatty foods and getting unnecessarily stressed are factors that would contribute to ill health, he added.
In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded. So it’s important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.
The Early Detection of Breast Cancer Program, which was launched in 2014 with the support of the private sector, has been successful in achieving its aspirations.