10 January 2007
United States, Gulf Countries Join Forces To Fight Breast Cancer
U.S. hospitals establish cancer centers in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – Two premier U.S. medical institutions, Johns Hopkins Medicine International and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, have announced they will have joined in a private-public partnership for breast cancer awareness and research in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates so that women in the Middle East can share the optimism of women elsewhere.
In Saudi Arabia, M.D. Anderson, part of the University of Texas, will provide training and education at King Fahd Medical City. In the United Arab Emirates, Johns Hopkins, headquartered in Baltimore, will initiate a breast cancer awareness program and train staff at Tawam Hospital in Al Ain.
Each year, breast cancer affects 1.1 million women and claims 400,000 lives, according to the Breast Cancer Fund, a California-based advocacy group. Worse yet, many of these cases are diagnosed in the late stages, when full recovery is unlikely. Despite this grim picture there is cause for optimism. In many countries discussion of breast cancer no longer is a social taboo, and where cases are diagnosed in the early stages survival rates reach as high as 98 percent.
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which offers research grants and scientific and community outreach programs worldwide, will support the effort with educational resources. The combined effort of these organizations will be known as the U.S.–Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research. It was launched recently in Abu Dhabi with additional support from the U.S. State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative. (See related article.)
In the past, Gulf country health ministries typically grouped breast cancer with other forms of cancer and disease, giving it no special attention. According to Maryam al-Rumeithy, a proponent of breast cancer awareness, a turning point came in 1995: “We noticed a disturbing trend. A disease usually confined to women in their 40s or 50s began appearing in much younger women, in their 30s and even late 20s.”
In response, Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, honorary chairwoman of the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen’s Council, formed a special committee to study breast cancer in the United Arab Emirates. The committee also plans to work with partners to raise awareness, and in a country as demographically diverse as the United Arab Emirates, which ranges from the very urban to the remotely rural, this has been a challenge.
“The same approach that persuades women in the cities to be tested won’t work in the countryside,” said Al-Rumeithy. “Advertisements on TV and in newspapers won’t have much effect. There, people rely much more on personal recommendations and advice, so we’ve had to rely on people who can speak the same ‘language,’ so to speak.”
Five subcommittees, one in each of the emirates outside the metropolitan centers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, will work to make women aware of the need for early testing and treatment, while taking into account the cultural values of each region.
Government agencies and civic organizations also will aid in the effort. Breast cancer awareness will be included in civic organizations’ health classes, and testing will be included in general health checkups for women.
The care does not stop with treatment of the physical ailment. It involves psychological and emotional health as well, and this is often an important part of the treatment for victims of diseases like breast cancer. In the Gulf region, it is a process that al-Rumeithy calls “return to the community.”
“Family and social relationships are vitally important for women in this part of the world,” she said, “so the sharing of experiences and how they dealt with the disease can be a valuable part of their recovery.” Johns Hopkins will offer a facility for emotional counseling to help relieve the invisible scars that breast cancer leaves.
It might be an odd irony that a disease as insidious as breast cancer can serve as a unifying force for people from different countries and cultures, but that is what first lady Laura Bush had in mind when she addressed the Komen Foundation’s annual mission conference in June 2006: “By confronting the challenge of breast cancer together, this partnership … will also help build lasting friendships between our countries. Most important, this partnership will help women throughout the Middle East find hope in a life free from breast cancer.” (See related article.)
Bint Mubarak expressed a similar view in a statement released in the fall of 2006 in Abu Dhabi: “Each culture is unique, and different societies will find different solutions, but by working together we will be able to find common ground.”
For additional information, see Middle East Partnership Initiative.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
