Statistics reveal that every fifth woman in Pakistan develops breast cancer after the age of 40 and every ninth women is at risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. Approximately 90,000 cases are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, causing over 40,000 deaths per year in Pakistan.

Breast Cancer
Touched by the experience of a colleague, when he got involved and researched about the facts about breast cancer in Pakistan, he realized the intensity of the taboo around the issue because of its association with women sexuality, Omer planned a nationwide awareness campaign for early detection of breast cancer.

Statistics reveal that every fifth woman in Pakistan develops breast cancer after the age of 40 and every ninth woman is at risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. Approximately 90,000 cases are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, causing over 40,000 deaths per year in Pakistan.

Touched by the experience of a colleague, when he got involved and researched about the facts about breast cancer in Pakistan, he realized the intensity of the taboo around the issue because of its association with women sexuality, Omer planned a nationwide awareness campaign for early detection of breast cancer.

The launch of the campaign was blacked out by TV channels because as per the Report on Freedom of Media (2001-2002) the word Breast wasn’t allowed to be covered by media because it was simply considered vulgar to talk about breast cancer on TV.

Without getting discouraged Omer re-strategize the campaign in a more holistic way and engaged all relevant stakeholders like media, public health sector, private health sector, policymakers and public at large.

Later on, by his advocacy and lobbying with government institutions and corporate sector, Omer maximized the outreach of the campaign through community engagement and awareness initiatives including Youth Awareness Program which reached out to more than 2 million girls through 300 colleges and universities.

Omer applied public-private partnership to tackle the issue on a holistic level. He engaged the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission as a strategic partner and launched the National Breast Cancer Screening program. Omer also launched National Advisory services and community outreach program to help and aware women about the disease.

Further, to create support for the campaign, Omer successfully used advocacy and lobbying intervention to support breast cancer and arranged a visit of Ms. Cherie Blair to Pakistan. This visit helped in developing a strategic alliance with the relevant government institutions.

Recently Omer Aftab designed Pakistan’s first dedicated Breast Cancer Hospital in Lahore. This state of the art hospital will provide free of cost diagnostic and treatment facilities to poor breast cancer patients.

The success of the campaign is evident with the fact that Breast Cancer has become one of the top national health agenda. Moreover; due to increased awareness; in recent years 30% increase in patient turnout has been recorded in hospitals.

His work on breast cancer awareness is well recognized at national and international level. He was awarded Golden world Award by International Public Relations Association (IPRA) for his campaign on Breast Cancer Awareness in Pakistan.