On 8 October 2017, the first lady Mrs. Nadia AL Chami Aoun and the Minister of Public Health and Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Ghassan Hasbany launched the 2017 national campaign for breast cancer awareness organized by the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with WHO. The event took place in the football stadium of Beirut, where celebrities and a female football team carried out a football match under the slogan Kick Breast Cancer with the aim to sensitize women to undergo breast cancer screening. The biggest Pink Ribbon ever - made of a new record of 8,250 pink footballs with the slogan of the campaign - was displayed. Accordingly, Lebanon was awarded a certification from the World Record Academy.
In Lebanon the around 8,000 new cancer cases diagnosed yearly. Breast cancer constitutes 21% of all cancer cases and 41% of all cancer cases among women.
The breast cancer campaign in 2017 lasts for 4 months and targets women all over Lebanon, from 40 to 70 years old, especially those who have never done a mammography. Health-care providers are reminded of advising their female patients to conduct a mammography. Also, husbands, family members and friends and neighbors are encouraged to motivate these women to participate in breast cancer screening.
WHO has been supporting national breast cancer campaigns since 2008. In 2014 WHO supported the national cancer situation assessment and strategy development and WHO continues to assist in the maintenance of Cancer Registry at the MOPH.
The strength of this years’ breast cancer campaign is the broad involvement of many different partners including Ministries of Social Affairs and Education, Lebanese Scientific Orders and Societies, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, academic institutions, advertising and production agencies, media channels and the private commercial sector. 132 hospitals participate in the campaign.
