Healthcare | Tuesday 4 December, 2018 12:49 pm |

Pink Caravan Ride (PCR), the UAE’s most popular breast cancer awareness campaign organised by the Friend of Cancer Patients (FOCP) a non-profit society, is calling on horse riders from across the country to saddle up to be part of their seven-day ride across the seven emirates is set to take place from February 23, 2019 until March 1st2019

 

Breast cancer being one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies in the UAE, FOCP has been organising this ride annually to heighten people’s knowledge about the importance of the role of self-examination and regular screenings in early detection, which increases survival rates to as high as 98%.

 

The campaign comes back every year to reinforce these messages, and offer all members of the community to receive free medical advice, as well as ultrasounds and mammogram screenings offered by PCR. 

 

The Higher Organising Committee of PCR is looking to join hands with 150 men and women across all nationalities with equestrian experience and passion for social and community work. Registrations are open and accessible through http://www.pinkcaravan.ae/register/index.php   until February 10. 

 

Riders keen to register must be above 16 years of age and have sufficient equestrian experience to ride for approximately 20 km every day. They will be required to take proficiency and technical tests, which will determine their fitness to participate.

 

Badr Al Juaidi, Pink Caravan Ride Manager, commented: “We believe volunteering is the strongest pillar of this campaign; an irreplaceable tool that gets the important message of breast cancer awareness to all segments of the UAE community. The more volunteers that sign up for our cause, the more impactful and far-reaching our message of protecting ourselves from cancer will be. We call on the equestrian community in the UAE to channel their passion for supporting cancer patients into strengthening breast cancer prevention and treatment advocacy by helping us educate our sisters and brothers around the country on the importance of early detection

 

A minimum of 500 Dhs donation is applicable for every registration, which will go into capacity building and supporting those affected by cancer.

 

To date, the Pink Caravan Ride has travelled over 1,715 km across the seven emirates with over 569 riders and 770+ volunteers spending over 280,000 hours of volunteering hours which is equivalent to 32 years. A total of 684 medical clinics have provided free early breast cancer detection examinations for 56,667 people, including 10,261 men, valued AED28.3 million. The Pink Caravan Ride has also visited 87 schools delivering educational sessions and lectures about the importance of early detection of breast cancer.