Key to Cure Breast Cancer is Early Detection

Pakistan has the highest incidence rate of breast cancer among the Asian countries:  one in every 9 women is at the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. Leading cause of this high burden of breast cancer is the delay in early diagnosis due to both patient and system level constraints.

Patient-Level Socioeconomic Constraints

Pakistani women lack the knowledge about breast cancer etiology that leads to the high prevalence. Women conceal breast lumps from family members, and refer to religious peers for spiritual advice and support. Women consider the breast as a secret organ, and are more likely to avoid being seen by male doctors. According to a study, 40.7% of Pakistani women wasted their time using alternative medicines, 17.1% ignored painless lumps and 10.6% presented late.

System-Level Constraints

Cancer care in Pakistan is not developed yet. There are still a lot of restrictions in terms of both trained manpower and infrastructure.  Presently, apart from a few cancer centers, government hospitals face a shortage of adequate medical facilities like mammography, supply of oncologists and nursing specialists as well. Furthermore, the country also lacks comprehensive registries/databases to document breast cancer death rates, accurate annual occurrence or the number of new cases regarding early management. Although Pakistan has charity hospitals like Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and many non-government organizations to support poor cancer patients, owing to the low awareness and knowledge about walk-in clinics, the majority of patients struggle with health-care needs at local-level care facilities.

In order to eradicate the urgency of breast cancer, and to make the knowledge of breast cancer acceptable in Pakistan women, ensure that all Pakistanis are educated that cancer is not a communicable disease or one that is transmitted by personal contact, there is a need to start culturally sensitive educative programs at basic community level with primary care. Provision of affordable and approachable facilities for diagnosis and treatment may lead to early detection.  Government should prioritize investing in cost-effective early breast cancer detection strategies to ensure the availability of  accessible special hospitals for breast cancer, trained lady oncologists, nursing staff, genetic counseling and awareness chapters in course books.