Over 25,000 people in Qatar underwent breast or bowel cancer screening last year with ‘Screen for Life,’ Qatar’s National Breast and Bowel Cancer Screening programme operated by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), making it the program’s most successful screening year since its inception four years ago.
Some 14,293 people underwent free screening for bowel cancer with 10,983 Qatar residents taking up the opportunity of mammograms for breast cancer. The two diseases are most often detected cancers in the country.
The screenings were carried out either at the three PHCC screening suites at Al Wakra, Leabaib and Rawdat Al Khail Health Centers or via the Screen for Life mobile unit. PHCC screening suites offer both breast and bowel cancer screenings while the mobile unit offers only breast cancer screening.
“Last year was one of superb progress in our screening and education programmes with more people being screened, many lectures delivered, more physicians trained on the importance of referring their patients to screening and more partners from both the public and private sectors engaged in our mission,” said Dr. Shaikha Abu Shaikha, Manager of Screening Programs at PHCC.
“Our marketing team achieved more community engagement during 2019, and we thank the many organisations that made this possible and hope to build on their enthusiasm to encourage others to follow their example,” she added.
During the year 'Screen for Life' conducted 31 education lectures for the public on the importance of screening for early detection and were attended by 938 people. In addition, 903 people registered for screening during the different awareness activities with a further 5,901 patients being referred for screening after intense training sessions for local physicians. A total of 455 health care providers attended a total of 45 training sessions which were held throughout the year.
‘Screen for Life’ also mounted two hugely successful month-long awareness drives to mark global initiatives for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month (March) and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October).
During these campaigns, the team engaged with a wide cross-section of Qatar society through nationwide tours of its mobile screening unit, the hosting of awareness lectures at governmental departments, private sector entities and education institutes, the staging of awareness campaigns in malls, health centres and across various media channels.
The year also saw pioneering Qatar Municipality Council Member and Head of the Legal Committee Shaikha Bint Youssef Bin Hassan Al Jufairi become a brand ambassador for ‘Screen for Life’.
Shaikha Al Jufairi joined a selective group of high-profile personalities who for years have supported ‘Screen for Life’ and are using their influence to encourage Qatari residents to seek early screening to detect breast and bowel cancer.
Another annual high points for Screen for Life were the expansions of the screening suites at Leabaib and Rawdat Al Khail Health Centres, and the first posting with Qatar’s Lekhwiya Forces headquarters, where this tour of duty was a prelude to November’s global ‘Movember’ campaign, which aims to draw attention to men’s health, including bowel cancer.
