Social media campaign spreads awareness about cancer

AMMAN — In a social media campaign marking the occasion of World Cancer Day, celebrated on February 4, Jordanians expressed their support for cancer patients and shared personal pledges for the fight against cancer. 

Organised by the King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), the online campaign seeks to spread awareness about cancer and encourage changes that make a difference in patients' lives. 

Users interested in participating in the campaign are encouraged to share supportive messages and photos using the hashtags #WeCanICan and #WorldCancerDay.

HH Princess Dina Mired, director general of the KHCF and honorary chairperson of the Jordan Breast Cancer Programme, wrote on Twitter: "I can give our patients doses of love vitamins through a smile."

Marwan Jawdat pledged to keep delivering lectures on the importance of early breast cancer diagnosis.

Another Twitter user, Roaa Bkairat, wrote that she can volunteer her time with cancer patients to help them smile. 

"I can tell everyone wherever I go that smoking is the worst habit, because we all can make our lives better without smoking," she added.

Employees at several institutions and private companies took part in the campaign. 

Types of supportive actions suggested by the campaign include asking acquaintances to donate money for cancer patients, writing about cancer awareness, and visiting an early diagnosis clinic at the King Hussein Cancer Centre.

The campaign encourages its participants to adopt practices for a healthy lifestyle, such as banning indoor smoking.

The most recent study on cancer in the Kingdom showed that 5,013 Jordanians were diagnosed with the disease out of 7,454 cases registered in the Kingdom in 2012, with an average cancer diagnosis rate of 78.5 per 100,000 of the population, the Ministry of Health announced Friday.

The most common cancers in Jordan are breast, colon, lung and vesica (bladder) cancers, in addition to lymphoma, according to Omar Nimri, head of the National Cancer Registry.