PESHAWAR, May 15: The Pink Ribbon in collaboration with Higher Education Commission is starting a youth awareness campaign on breast cancer in 10 universities and women colleges of Peshawar from Wednesday (today).

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the campaign in Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday, the PR campaign chief executive officer Omer Aftab said that they would reach out to 35,000 girls through 10 different universities and colleges during the campaign to create awareness of the fast spreading breast cancer and ways for prevention of the disease.

He said that they aimed to create widespread awareness of the disease and its high incidence, severity leading to fatality and its impact on lives of womenfolk.

Mr Aftab said that Pakistan had the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia and every year 40,000 women were dying from breast cancer whereas very little information was available on the disease.

He said that one of nine women in Pakistan was at the risk of breast cancer and its prevalence was the highest amongst all cancers in the country. He said that it was important to focus on prevention rather than cure, as breast cancer was the only caner in which survival rate was over 90 percent if diagnosed early on.

Mr Aftab said that the campaign would be launched in Frontier Women University, University of Peshawar, Agriculture University Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamia College University, Institute of Management Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Postgraduate Nursing College, City University of Science and Information Technology, Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Abasyn University, Iqra National University and University of Engineering and Technology.

He maintained that after Peshawar, their next target cities were Karachi and Quetta and their adjoining rural areas. He said that the disease could easily be overcome if timely treated. —Bureau Report