Pink Caravan Ride offers 3,500 free breast screenings in 5 days

SHARJAH, 5th March, 2018 (WAM) -- The number of free screenings and medical checkups offered by the eighth annual edition of the Pink Caravan breast cancer awareness ride has exceeded 3,500 – the Pink Caravan Medical Awareness Committee has revealed. The community initiative by the Sharjah-based cancer charity, Friends of Cancer Patients, FoCP, has done tremendously well in the last seven years, organisers say, heightening the UAE community’s understanding about the importance of undergoing regular screenings for early detection of the disease, especially because the incidence of breast cancer in the UAE is quite high. Umm Al Quwain was the fifth emirate in focus, where the Pink Caravan’s team of campaigners on horsebacks and numerous volunteers set off on a 9.7 kilometre equine journey Sunday, starting at the Sheikh Khalifa General Hospital. The pink brigade trotted on the streets of the emirate trying to sensitise people and get them to come forward and utilise the avenue the Pink Caravan Ride has offered them to be safeguard their health and wellbeing. One of the volunteering riders, 41-year-old Shannon Naude, originally from South Africa and a resident of the UAE for several years, said, "Two of my aunts on both my mother’s and father’s side have suffered breast cancer, and are both completely cancer free now. I personally as well have had cervical cancer in its very early stage, and we caught that because of an early screening. The diagnosis was thankfully not too bad and we were able to treat it very quickly." The weeklong ride is travelling across the seven emirates until 6th March, offering free breast cancer screenings, and raising awareness about the disease by emphasising the significance of early detection.