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Think pink

Updated: 2008-10-27 07:53
By BAO WANXIAN (China Daily)

Think pink

Representatives from Estee Lauder and campaign ambassadors celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Pink Ribbon Campaign or Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign initiated by the Estee Lauder.

"Pink" is frequently used to describe beauty, warmth and happiness. However, in recent years, under an international campaign, pink is widely known to have another meaning - health.

With the theme: "Improving women's healthcare and preventing breast cancer through early diagnosis", the international Pink Ribbon Campaign, or Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, was originally initiated in the United States in 1992 by cosmetic giant Estee Lauder Group and Self, a woman's health magazine.

Five years ago Estee Lauder brought the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign came to China and early this month (October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month), immense pink lights illuminated Beijing's landmark Qianmen Gate at the front of Tian'anmen Square as a reminder of the need to help Chinese women fight breast cancer.

"Breast cancer is the most common disease threatening women's healthnow," says Shen Xiangmei, general manager of Estee Lauder China. "However, fear and neglect are not the best ways to cure breast cancer."

The aim of the campaign is to encourage women prevent, control and cure breast cancer at an early stage.

They are urged to get a mammogram annually if they are over the age of 40. "We should let every women know that if breast cancer is detected early, it is 98 percent curable," says Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice-president of Estee Lauder Group and the co-initiator of the Pink Ribbon Campaign.

Estee Lauder Group has delivered over 80 million pink ribbon breast cancer awareness brochures to women in more than 60 countries.

The pink light that lit up Beijing's Qianmen has also illuminated more than 200 symbolic landmarks all around the world and Estee Lauder Group has raised more than $220 million in donations through the company's Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

In the last five years, Estee Lauder has helped establish the country's first breast cancer education base and is spreading healthcare knowledge to more than 500 cities across China.

China statistics regarding breast cancer are scattered. In October 2007, Shanghai Daily reported that experts in the city said breast cancer was the leading cause of death among local women and that the rate has tripled over the past 35 years.

It's the biggest killer of women in large industrialized cities and China's Ministry of Health has reported that breast cancer has increased 96 percent in 30 years.

Among the figures released by the Ministry of Health: In 2001, the national incidence of breast cancer was 17 women out of 100,000; in 2006 it was 52 out of 100,000

Stress from today's fast-paced and rapidly developing world poses health threats to women and, as such, the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign also encourages women to maintain a healthy lifestyle and keep a balance between their careers and families.

Professor Zhang Baoning, from the Cancer Institute & Hospital, under the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences says early detection is crucial in the fight against breast cancer.

"Thanks to the joint efforts of the Chinese government and woman's health projects and organizations the mortality rate for breast cancer has been significantly reduced in recent years," Zhang tells China Business Weekly. Estee Lauder's Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign has also had a positive influence, Zhang says.

This year since March, the Ministry of Health sponsored a project to provide free breast checkups to more than 530,000 women at the age of 35 to 69 across China, covering 30 provinces, and 53 cities.

"Estee Lauder is always known for its high-end products. But in China, we come into the streets, and talk with local residents to supply free cancer detection and prevention information and services for them," Shen says. "We are so glad to share our health promotion experience with China and help local women enhance their healthcare awareness."

"We want to encourage everyone to wear a pink ribbon. People wearing them are delivering a message of care to all the women around them - mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, wives and girlfriends," says Yang Lan, a noted Chinese celebrity, journalist and Estee Lauder Breast Cancer Awareness spokeswoman.

(China Daily 10/27/2008 page8)

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