Let’s unite to bring her smile back

“Matha, pitha, guru, daivam...” the Sanskrit phrase which rose in the medieval times, clearly tells us, who deserves reverence the most…..If mom’s pat on your shoulder, a hug from your sister, a kick on your head from best friend, a beautiful smile from your girlfriend can wash away your sorrows and makes you feel that “she’s got your back”, well then you know for whom you live, or may be more precisely I can say “for who should you live?”

 Ethics has an important role in women’s health which often left forgotten. Even in this 21^st centuary where we make series like “Black Mirror” which explains the fate of coming generations due to the consequences of “our” discoveries, for some well-educated societies, the basic rights of a woman to get medical assistance, age limit for marriage, and  sexual ethics etc. becomes just sentences that are written on some white sheets. When the religion and social status empowers, ethical, legal and social issues in women’s health remains suppressed. I am not a feminist, so don’t take me wrong but I have to talk about women’s health and safety coz I don’t wanna see more Asifas dying for mercy, I don’t wanna see more Susang G komen centres raising up, I don’t wanna see more Angelina Jollies undergoing double mastectomy….and neither I wanna see my brothers being left alone.. So please don’t take me wrong...

The drastic increase in maternal deaths, breast and ovarian cancer mortality rate, women with CVDs, PCOS, osteoporosis, depression etc. sometimes makes me ask “really? Am I living in 21^st century??” Studies show that the major cause of rise in women mortality rate in many countries is due to breast cancer, and it is also said that BRCA genes are highly sensitive to mutations. The behavioral changes of these breast cancer genes in each individual, strengthens the need for personalized medicines. I agree that there are works going on to develop numerous high throughput technologies like micro array to make drug delivery or to be accurate targeted drug delivery easy, but just go through some case studies and see how efficient they are? I know none of these posts or any of my words will bring a miraculous change in any of the above said issues, but I would like to thank all my brothers and sisters who toil to come up with new productive ideas to replace chemo, radiation, neoadjuvant therapies, and to bring a positive result in treatment of all other diseases. Remember cancer gives us only two options, either die or live with the side effects of treatment. Don’t you think it’s high time to bring a change??

So I welcome you all for the 8^th World Conference on Women’s Health and Breast Cancer going to be held in Abu Dhabi, in the month of December. Let’s share our ideas and enlighten the enthusiastic minds gathered over there. Let’s unite to bring her smile back and let her know that she is not alone…

Let’s fight back with a smile J