Abu Dhabi: Women across the capital will be able to take part in a mobile mammography Breast Cancer Awareness campaign while getting their nails painted pink, an activity which organisers feel "symbolises social responsibility to support awareness, education and prevention of breast cancer in the UAE."
Free screening will be available at a mobile mammography unit, which the Lifeline Hospital introduced for the first time during the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress 2010, as reported by Gulf News earlier.
Breast screenings will be done for women above 40 years of age. Females with a family history of breast cancer, aged 35 years and above, are also encouraged to take part in the screening.
Growing danger
The initiative, organised by Lifeline Hospital, titled "Be Responsible" will begin today and run until tomorrow, at Al Raha Mall in Abu Dhabi.
"Breast cancer has been identified as the single most common cancer in the UAE among Emiratis and expatriate women.
"It accounts for 28 per cent of all female deaths in the UAE. About 80 per cent of cases of breast cancer start in the ducts, while about 20 per cent start in the lobules.
"Cancerous tumours in the breast can grow very slowly so that by the time one is large enough to be felt as a lump, it may have been growing for as long as 10 years," said Dr Charles Stanford, Senior Director, the Lifeline Hospital Group.
