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Breast cancer awareness drive heats up
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Posted on Oct 25 2004
In continuing efforts to combat breast cancer and promote awareness of the disease, Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, in collaboration with the Department of Public Health and the Commonwealth Cancer Association, declared Oct. 24-31 as 2004 Breast Cancer Awareness Week.
“We are here because we understand that breast cancer is the highest cause of deaths among women on the island of Saipan,” Tudela said in a proclamation signing ceremony yesterday morning at the Saipan Mayor’s Office. “[And] we are here to do something about it. Yes, we mean business.”
October was earlier declared Breast Cancer Awareness Month by Gov. Juan N. Babauta. This year’s theme is “No more excuses…Get your mammogram today!”
Tudela disclosed that efforts to reach the community includes a “Celebrity Bagging” event scheduled this Saturday at Payless Supermarket from 9am to 11am. Participants, including Tudela, Miss 2004 Liberation Queen Leiana Ogumoro and Miss 2004 Liberation Royal Princess Sweeda Glad, would bag groceries and stuff educational materials on breast cancer and the importance of having a mammogram, recognized as the most effective method of detecting breast changes that may lead to cancer, long before physical symptoms can be seen or felt.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by several cancer survivors, who lauded Tudela for his efforts in promoting awareness of the disease.
“Early detection is the best protection,” said Christine Kapileo, who represented the local breast cancer support group.
Over 200,000 new cases of female breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2004 and close to 40,000 will die from the disease. In the Commonwealth, the five-year mean age-specific breast cancer mortality rate is 5.04 per 10,000 women over the age of 40 in 2001.
Between 1992 to 2001, about 22 women in the Commonwealth have succumbed to breast cancer. Between 1998 and 2002, 37 cancers have been detected in the Commonwealth while 107 were found to be benign. The CHC has also conducted a total of 5,736 mammograms between 1998 and 2003, with 857 in 1998, 802 in 1999, 943 in 2000, 965 in 2001, 1,223 in 2002, and 954 in 2003.
Further, 21 mortality cases have been detected between 1995 and 2002, and 66 morbidity between 1995 and 2003.
