Chairman of the Egyptian Breast Cancer Foundation Dr Mohamed Shaalan will author the chapter on 'Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean' in the upcoming edition of the world-renowned Cancer Atlas to launch 2014 In acknowledgment of the role played by the Breast Cancer Foundation in Egypt (BCFE), the American Cancer Society and the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer have selected BCFE Chairman Dr Mohamed Shaalan to contribute to the 'Cancer Atlas' edition scheduled to launch in 2014 at the Union for International Cancer Control's World Cancer Congress in Australia. Also director of the National Cancer Institute's Early Detection Unit and Professor of surgical oncology, Cairo University, Shaalan will author the 'Cancer Atlas' section titled ‘Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean'. Shaalan stressed the Atlas' incorporation of the field's latest data. Among the aspects covered are risk factors, preventive measures, early detection methods, disease treatment processes, various data registries and international efforts to support research infrastructure aiming to curb the alarming increase in cancer cases worldwide, with special emphasis on developing countries. Due to the alarming increase of breast cancer in Egypt – latest statistics reveal that breast cancer accounts for 37.5 percent of all local cancer cases – the BCFE was initially launched by a small group of founders as an NGO registered by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The BCFE's aim was to spread awareness about this second worldwide cause of cancer-related deaths – a fact prone to much improvement if only women included the necessary preventive measures into their lifestyle, which the foundation sought to promote. The foundation also supports those already suffering from the disease, be it the patients or those surrounding them, by spreading positive energy through various campaigns and events across the year. In a recent important new service for Egyptian female cancer patients, as well as the community at large, the BCFE launched a hot line number to receive complaints regarding domestic violence. According to the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, the number of breast cancer-related deaths was estimated at 522,000 in 2012, while the total death toll due to all forms of cancer reached 8.2 million in the same year. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/89504.aspx
