Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) successfully concluded its breast cancer awareness activities, held under the theme ‘Blossom’. This came as part of marking October as the International Month of Breast Cancer.
The campaign targeted all segments of the society to raise the awareness about breast cancer and the importance of early detection.
In all, 75 virtual activities were organised targeting educational institutions such as schools and universities, as well as ministries, banks, private companies and hotels.
The campaign witnessed honouring the winners of the ‘Blossom Challenge’ competition, who were able to lose weight by adapting a healthy diet. The competition targeted 40 women of different ages, in cooperation with the Perf Up Center, and they were given vouchers and luxury watches sponsored by Marhaba Jewellery.
As many as 37 students from a number of schools in Qatar, including 20 students from the MES School, participated in the campaign.
About 400 ultrasound breast examinations were provided free of cost in cooperation with Naseem Al Rabeeh Medical Center to encourage early detection.

QCS also tied up several institutions, such as Aspire and the Qatar Triathlon Federation, in their efforts to organise breast cancer awareness events.
Many sponsors supported QCS’ Blossom campaign, including Talabat and Fingertips. Spar Qatar donated one riyal on the purchase of some of their products while Lulu Hypermarket allocated a percentage of the sales of more than 500 items to QCS. Kholoud Pharmacies donated 5 percent of the sales amount on some of the pink products at its 22 branches. Qatar Airways organised a donation campaign through a charity bazaar on its website, while Ooredoo enabled donations to QCS campaign through Nojoom points.
Many Doha landmarks also joined the ‘Blossom’ campaign by lighting themselves up in pink, such as Al Shola Hotel, Msheireb City by Msheireb Properties and Ras Abu Aboud Street by Ashghal.

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has received a kind donation from Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. the exclusive agent for Nissan in Qatar, a Nissan X-Trail vehicle to support the campaigns  and awareness efforts led by the Society to raise  public awareness on cancer, ways to prevent it, and importance of early detection.

Dr. Dera Al Dosari, Director of Resources Development Department at QCS, thanked Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. for the kind gesture of supporting the Society in the field of cancer awareness, stressing the importance of the joint efforts to serve the community and fight cancer, and in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 to focus on the human factor and invest in human health.

He affirmed that QCS will continue its efforts towards achieving its vision in the community by making Qatar a leader in cancer prevention and control, as well as its mission to achieve these goals through working with partners such as Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. to spread awareness in the community and support, empower, and advocate for individuals living with cancer. He added that during the last interval, QCS witnessed a remarkable development and became one of the pioneering institutions in this field under the leadership of Dr. Khalid Bin Jabr Al Thani, who is doing his best towards constant improvement.

Commenting on this occasion, Mr. Nassim Mourani, General Manager – Automotive Group at Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. said, “Social responsibility is one of our core values and our way to give back to our community. This partnership with Qatar Cancer Society reiterates this commitment and Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Co. will continue to support such initiatives that reflects our brand identity and ethos.”

Both organizations wished that all companies in Qatar to join hands to spread awareness about cancer and provide support to people living with the disease.

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) concluded  “Protect Yourself” campaign to raise awareness of liver cancer that is the 7th highest cancer among both genders in Qatar and among all cancer death, liver cancer is the 2nd highest cancer among both genders. , according to Qatar National Cancer registry 2016 – the Ministry of Public Health  .The electronic campaign targeted workers who are among the groups most exposed to the risk factors causing this type of cancer by broadcasting educational videos in different languages, which are “Arabic, English, Urdu and Malayalam”, to target the largest possible number of audiences make them aware of disease, signs, warning symptoms, methods of prevention and early detection,Mr. Khalifa Haroun, social media influencer, participated in the campaign, who contributed to the campaign’s awareness role through his accounts on social media.

Mrs. Heba Nassar – Head of the Health Education Department at QCS  said –  the charity has launched this campaign via its electronic platforms  Within the framework of the preventive measures to limit the spread of Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) , with the participation of a number of entities, including the Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Red Crescent, Syrian American Medical Center, Mowasalat

She stressed the importance of early detection of the disease and it is often hard to find liver cancer early because signs and symptoms often do not appear at an early stage. So, you should check with your doctor in a regular manner.

 The way of Prevention Summarized in avoid smoking ,avoid alcohol consumption , maintain healthy body weight , be physically active (exercise for at least 30 min/day, 5 days/week) , prevent infection with hepatitis B&C , get regular medical checkup , avoid breathing in or touching toxic chemicals. She added.

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS ) jointly with Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) organized the first online continuous professional development webinar about the Suspected Lung Cancer Referral Guidelines on a Qatari Digital Platform – MasterBadge MEET, which targeted 200 primary healthcare providers, nurses, and the allied health practitioners from both the governmental and private health sector.

Dr. Hadi  Abu Rasheed – Head of Professional Development and Scientific Research Department  at  Qatar cancer society   said “ This CPD Activity is a Category 1 – Accredited Group Learning Activity as defined by the Qatar Council for Healthcare Practitioners – Accreditation Department and is approved for a maximum of 1.5 hours.

Based on the strategic partnership with the Hamad Medical Corporation and the ongoing support provided by HMC to QCS, the communication team at the Hamad Medical Corporation will promote the activities of the continuous medical education of QCS in the digital platforms and newsletters of HMC to increase the opportunities for HMC’s medical staff to benefit from the QCS’ continuing medical education programs. He added.

Dr Abu Rashid pointed to the charity’s constant eagerness to organize nationally and internationally accredited professional development and continuing medical education programs for healthcare, health education and communication, patient support, and health behavioural research workforce, prepare and distribute cancer statistics updates ,develop strategies to analyse and evaluate the efficiency of Qatar Cancer Society activities , coordinate conducting Cancer health behavioural research in collaboration with health and academic entities and distribute cancer updates for health workforce

Dr. Mohammed Ussama Al Homsi- Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology and Deputy Medical Director of Clinical Education, Research, and Quality at The National Center for Cancer Care and Research – said “We are always grateful to work in partnership with QCS  their support enables us to ensure we reach across the healthcare providers in Qatar in the interests of the whole population.

This symposium supports the continuing path to providing excellence in cancer care in the county”.

Best investment is in early detection and prevention as World Health Organization studies showed that between 30–50% of cancers can be prevented by avoiding risk factors and implementing evidence-based prevention strategies and many cancers have a high chance of cure if diagnosed early.he added .

He continued saying  that Qatar National Cancer Program did a survey in May 2016 showed that 68% of health experts in Qatar recommended that future investment should be placed in capacity building of the primary healthcare providers and the community health workforce .

Explaining that National Cancer Program recommended that this could be supported by existing programs, such as those run by the Qatar Cancer Society

Dr. Reyad Mohsen – Senior Consultant in Medical Oncology at The National Center for Cancer Care and Research – Chair of the Thoracic Cancers National Clinical Advisory Group – Ministry of Public Health – said this CPD aims to provide the participants practical knowledge about lung cancers early signs and symptoms to determine when a patient should be referred as a suspected case, the accurate referral and follow up pathways for the suspected lung cancer cases, and the needed initial diagnostic and management approach to be done for suspected lung cancer cases at the level of primary care.

Also, the latest lung cancer statistics globally and locally were presented during the workshop.

He presented during the symposium the latest statistics of lung cancer according to Qatar National Cancer Registry (QNCR) – Ministry of Public Health – 2016 that Lung cancer is the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer  in Qatar in 2016 and same year Lung cancer is the first causing-death cancer and survival rate from 2013 till 2016 is 24.24%  which means that 24.24% of lung cancer patients stayed alive  from 2013 to 2016.

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has celebrated Qatar National Day by launching a public event for school students that aimed to introduce the charity’s mission, vision, and it’s role in community by promoting a culture of early detection of disease and ways to prevent it through a numbers of shows and entertainment competitions.

HE. Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Jabor Al Thani, QCS Chairman, said that the National Day celebrations provide opportunity for Qatar’s citizens and residents to have a sense belonging and loyalty, while emphasising the importance of pride and dignity and line up side by side in love of Qatar.

He also clarified that QCS has not neglected one of its main objective since its establishment in 1997, which is to treat cancer patients who are unable to pay the costs of treatment , Where it has treated approximately 1070 patients at a cost of approximately QR13,822,000 between January and October this year m and by the end of this year, it is expected that 1,284 patients will be treated at an estimated cost of QR16,590,000, pointing to the society’s keenness to treat all patients, and there is not one patient on the waiting list.

Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Jabor stressed QCS’ keenness to launch awareness and educational campaigns throughout the year, especially during the celebration of the Qatar National Day, to raise community awareness about cancer.

Qatar Cancer Society concluded its activities on the International Month of Breast Cancer Awareness with ‘Walk to Support’ event which was held at the Doha  Corniche with more than 700 participation and sponsors who joined the  walk  to support  individual living  with breast cancer , where many activities were attended by  the  participants .

Many sponsors supported” Walk to support ‘believing in the importance of spreading awareness of breast cancer and emphasizing the importance of social responsibility such as Ooredoo and Katara Hospitality who are the strategic partners to QCS.  Carrefour, QTerminals and Barwa Bank, who were the platinum sponsors of this event, and Commercial Bank as a gold sponsor. In addition to the co-sponsors like Qatar Aluminum, Qatar Living, Mowasalat, Al Rayan Water Company, Oryx Rotana Hotel and Talabat Company who provided the refreshments like water, juice and fruits to the participants. Tadawi Medical Center was the medical sponsor as well, which provided free consultation and advice to the participants in the march.

The Participants and sponsors met at the gathering point and enjoyed the shows, then the walk about 3 km on the Corniche and returned to the gathering point  , the event also included a prize draw from Barwa Bank, finally Honoring the sponsors.