Sri Lanka to launch breast cancer awareness month

The Sri Lankan Health Ministry has named the month of October as the breast cancer awareness month as 500 women die annually of breast cancer, a ministry official said on Friday. W. M. D. Wanninayake, the ministry\'s spokesman, told reporters that they planned several activities during the month to educate women on breast cancer. Early detection could prevent breast cancer and the ministry asked women to go to a medical checkup at least once a year, he said. \"We have set up 700 women clinics at countrywide government hospitals,\" he said, adding the clinics are well equipped and do all the tests free of charge. He said most of women in Sri Lanka don\'t visit the clinics and as a result they cannot identify the disease until it grows to the unpreventable level. The most vulnerable group is women between 35 and 40 years old, Wannianayake said, adding it is the productive age of a person. According to Sri Lanka\'s health system, the government provides free healthcare facilities to all citizens.