The World Conference on Breast Cancer Foundation

Since the first World Conference on Breast Cancer in 1997, the World Conference on Breast Cancer has inspired many initiatives around the world. These initiatives help to improve conditions for individual women and men with breast cancer and provide support and education for thousands of others. The following list highlights some of the international work that has been reported to the World Conference on Breast Cancer Foundation:

1. Establishment of a breast treatment centre in Vietnam (through support from Canadian organizations);

2. Provision of a mammography machine to Bengal;

3. Creation of the Philippines Breast Cancer Network - the first ever support and advocacy group in the Philippines;

4. Creation of a Global Action Plan with distribution to eighty countries around the world and translation and distribution in French and Croatian;

5. Presentation to the United Nations on the environmental links to breast cancer;

6. Restructuring of a treatment centre in Moscow to provide patient counselling and support;

7. Production of a Spanish version of the film, Exposure, a documentary focusing on the environmental links to breast cancer;

8. Development of an international lecture series for physicians and nurses regarding the medical, psychological, social and economic impacts of breast cancer;

9. Development of an awareness campaign about breast cancer through the Zambian Women and Shelter Group;

10. Establishment of a breast cancer web site in the Bahamas that now receives over 200 visits each week;

11. Change in operation of the Institute in San José dos Campos in Brazil to a patient-centered facility;

12. Establishment of a free breast cancer clinic and the creation of a web site for information about breast health in Egypt;

13. Sharing of information about the World Conference on Breast Cancer through local and national media in India;

14. Initiation of the International Support Links program: Pairing of a Canadian breast cancer survivor with one from another country for shared information and support. In 2002, twelve Canadians were paired with survivors from Zambia, Egypt, the Philippines, Israel, Yugoslavia, Lebanon and Cameroon. Canadian participants in the ISL program sold pink beaded ribbons to raise funds for BSE training of community workers in Zambia.