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Egyptians Race Around Pyramid to Warn of Breast Cancer
FrontLines - December-January 2009-10
CAIRO -- More than 7,000 men, women, and children walked or ran around the ancient pyramids in Egypt's first breast cancer fundraising race.
In a country whose social standards often prevent open dialogue on women's health issues, the event drew Arab actors, medical professionals, and breast cancer survivors openly displaying "survivor" shirts in English and Arabic.
"Hamdulilla [Praise God]," survivor Amira Awad, 50, said in Arabic of her remission. "It's important for me to be here today because I am not the only one who is sick. There are a lot like me."
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Cairo's ancient culture--the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx--coexist with its modern day traffic in the overpopulated city of 17 million. The pyramids were built for pharaohs as tombs upon their death and portals to life after death. The Great Pyramid on the right is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, constructed around 2,540 B.C.
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Awad walked with her sister, Hoda Awad, also a breast cancer survivor, and Hoda's daughter.
The event was organized by Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt, with support from USAID and its grantees, The Johns Hopkins University and the Institute of International Education.
"Egypt is the largest public health success story in the world, so we now are able to focus on breast cancer," USAID Public Health Officer Holly Fluty Dempsey said.
One of the biggest health sector successes for the country of 83 million people has been the sharp decline in infant mortality rates. One in four children younger than age 5 was dying in the mid-1960s compared to one in 36 in the early 2000s, according to USAID's 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey.
"We have made astounding contributions to public health here in Egypt," Dempsey said. "That's what development is, it's behavior change, whether it's breast cancer detection, saving your hard-earned money, putting your children through school. We give people the ability to make a choice and act on it. And that's what USAID does."
USAID has spent close to $1.5 billion in 30 years on health in Egypt.
"USAID has always been a great partner with Egypt," said Dr. Mohamed Shalaan, one of Egypt's leading doctors in the breast cancer fight.
"Look at the people coming today. [Seven thousand] people, it means one thing: higher awareness," Shalaan said. "And USAID helped with pamphlets, through mobiles… Awareness is the key to the cure for breast cancer."
Past USAID programs first targeted increasing awareness, like advertising the dehydration dangers of children's diarrhea in Egypt. The ad featured a flower slowly wilting without water-without mentioning diarrhea-to gradually introduce a taboo health topic.
"It was understanding the Egyptian concept," Dempsey said. "As an agency, it's one of the best things we do. We take state-of-the-art knowledge and apply it to the context in which we work, based on the environment in which we work."
Days before the pyramid race, USAID co-sponsored an event in Alexandria, two hours north of Cairo, to launch the breast cancer awareness campaign.
Participants in the Race for the Cure were predominantly Egyptian and came from as far away as Alexandria. They ran and walked the 1.5 kilometer track and followed the parade route around the ancient pyramids of Giza, symbols of immortality for ancient pharaohs.
The night before the race, the Great Pyramid was lit up in pink to mark the historic event.
"As many times as I've been to the pyramids, there was something about the setting [of the race]," Dempsey said. "It's the only remaining wonder of the ancient world. The juxtaposition of those recognizable symbols, three pyramids, with a modern-day disease that we were able to assist with. The whole event was a wonderful example of the successful partnership we have with Egypt."
FrontLines writer Analeed Marcus wrote this series of articles following a trip to Egypt in October. All photos by Analeed Marcus.
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