‘Pink Shirt Day’ Launches Breast Cancer Awareness Month
As statistics go, the fact that Hounslow Borough has a higher death rate from breast cancer than London as whole has to be one of the most shocking. According to Hounslow’s PCT the number of women being screened has decreased over the last four years.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month countrywide and Hounslow PCT and Council will be hosting ‘Pink Shirt Day’ on Friday 1st October in an effort to raise local awareness of the importance of screening.
Council workers and PCT staff including Doctors and Nurses will be encouraged to wear pink – be it a shirt, scarf, tie or anything that can been seen.
Sharon Daye, Acting Director of Public Health at the PCT, said, “Breast Cancer month is all about raising public awareness and encouraging women to undergo screening, which can detect breast cancer at an early stage. Nine times out of ten, lumps in the breast are not cancerous, but it is always best to have any lump or change in your breasts checked by your GP, sooner rather than later. “
The West London Breast Screening Service offers screening to women in Hounslow aged between 50 and 70. However, take-up is low: while the national screening target is 70%, only 59% of eligible women in Hounslow attend for screening.
Facts about breast cancer:
· The lifetime risk of women developing breast cancer in the UK is 1 in 9
· Breast cancer is the second biggest cause of death from cancer for women in the UK
· At the end of 2002, 1056 women in Hounslow who had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer between 1985 and 2002 were still alive. This survival rate is lower than North West London and London as a whole, when taking account of population size.
September 30, 2004
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