Thursday, October 17, 2013

Breast Cancer Outcomes Depend on What World You Live In

Yes, It's October and we are being "pinked" to death with breast cancer awareness. As flip as that sounds it's crucial to acknowledge that our U.S. first world view of breast cancer and it's prevention and screening is in fact a kind of luxury problem compared to the rest of the world--especially for women in third world communities like African nations.

The link below is to a sad and powerful story from yesterday's New York Times that shows us that our breast cancer--even when it's bad--is so much better than in other parts of the world. This article also helps us to understand why reported cancer rates vary when comparing first and third world countries. This heartbreaking sentence got my attention:

Cancer has long been neglected in developing countries, overshadowed by the struggle against more acute threats like malaria and AIDS. But as nations across the continent have made remarkable progress against infectious diseases.... more people are living long enough to develop cancer.

Here is the full article and stories of women with breast cancer. Please share this with women you know. There must be ways we can extend breast cancer awareness beyond our pink ribbons and breast-self-exams.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/health/uganda-fights-stigma-and-poverty-to-take-on-breast-cancer.html?_r=0

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