Doha: The breast and bowel screening programme is one of the most important preventive services in Primary Health Care Corporation as the programme is concerned with enriching awareness about the importance of screening and its role in life saving.
The screening programme has done a total of 1305 mammograms and 1966 women are scheduled to do their screening. While the home delivery service for bowel cancer has been reactivated.
In order to help the screening programme to reach more people in the community, home service for bowel cancer screening has been reactivated via Qatar Post. The home delivery service is available for free, through which participants will be able to have a telephone consultation and then the bowel screening kit will be sent to their address via Qatar Post.
It will be available for all the targeted participants, in particular those who have previously completed their screenings with the programme either once or more, patients who are unable to physically attend due to far distance or special needs as well as the elderly.
Moving on, last month PHCC delivered the |breast cancer awareness campaign under the slogan, “Symptom free is not disease free — screen to be sure!”
The slogan was chosen to emphasise the importance of getting the routine screening even if you do not have any symptoms, as with any disease there is potential presence without any symptoms.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a yearly celebration held worldwide in October. The purpose of it is to raise awareness about breast cancer and the signs and symptoms associated with it, as when spotted earlier it is easily treatable, and patients can continue to live a healthy life. Research has also shown that breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women, therefore the significance of this campaign is extremely heightened.
Dr. Shaikha Abu Shaikha, Director of the screening programmes at PHCC said: “This year we have successfully experienced a high level of engagement from our communities and the partnership across health sectors has been the key to ensuring that we reach our target audience.”
One key aspect of the national breast and bowel cancer screening programme is raising public awareness through such campaigns. The breast cancer awareness campaign aims to educate the public on the various signs and symptoms of breast cancer. While doing so, the public are learning the significance of routinely screening, and what are the steps to be taken to access screening.
The month-long comprehensive campaign included, print, social media efforts, public engagement awareness activities including lectures and activation health awareness booths.
Doha Festival City was one of the major supporters of October campaign where booths as well as in-mall advertisements were on display. Health awareness booths were also present at 9 different locations within PHCC HQ building, Al Wajbah, Umm Slal, Mesaimeer, Rawdat Al Khail, Leabaib, Wakra, Muaither, and Al Daayen Health centres. Our specialists at the booth educated visitors on the importance of breast cancer screening, and registered the ladies in the target population to be called for the screening.
As part of their efforts to engage the public, the PHCC team also distributed giveaways at screening-dedicated at the screening suites. The campaign was also supported by Qatar Energy, WISH walkathon and several schools which distributed giveaways and the health education flyers.
“It is vital that we always remember that screening saves lives, therefore we must always ensure that we are up to date with our screening to detect the presence of disease at an early stage. When detected at early stages, which will be through the screening, breast cancer survival rate will reach up to 98%,” said Dr. Shaikha Abu Shaikha.
