With Laura Bush due to arrive in the Kingdom on her campaign for breast cancer awareness the Kingdom has announced new initiatives towards making women aware of the need for proactive care. A new center is being launched to encourage women to go for routine mammograms. This is a key issue in the Kingdom because primarily due to cultural traditions and lack of education/awarness, many women in the Kingdom fail to seek medical attention until their breast cancer is in the latest stages of the disease. Cultural taboos remain in having a doctor (even female) examine a woman’s body and particularly the private areas such as the breasts. And due to lack of education, there is a fear factor that a woman who may discover a lump will remain quiet and not say or do anything until it has grown substantially and by that time, routine treatments are not effective. Even if one is attempting to acquire information about breast cancer, depending what internet service provider is used or how a search query is stated, the user may receive the message “access denied” as the word breast is associated with pornography. For all I know, this particular posting may not be available to all my readers in Saudi due to the subject matter. Laura Bush’s visit specifically for breast cancer awareness and recent initiatives taken by the Kingdom are indeed positive moves here.
Filed under: gender, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi education | 3 Comments »
