Campaign for early diagnosis of breast cancer Celebrate life There is a real danger that every ninth woman in Macedonia get sick from breast cancer. 600 new cases of breast cancer have been registered last year, which is six times more than ten years ago. Therefore, at the end of September, the association “Zivotna Iskra” promoted their campaign under the motto “Celebrate the life”, as the guiding idea in the fight against cancer and for raising the public awareness on the presence of this malignant disease and the consequences resulting from it. “Only the early diagnosis of breast cancer can work and lead towards successful treatment. According to the experts, the early diagnosis of the breast cancer can result in successful treatment in 95% of the women”, they emphasize at “Zivotna Iskra”. The campaign started symbolically with the manifestation called “Cake for everybody, treatment for everybody”, which symbolized the urgency of the problem. It ended a minute before noon, in front of The Army House in Skopje. The manifestation raised a huge interest among the Skopje citizens, and the cake in the shape of a violet ribbon symbolized the world-known mark for fight against breast cancer. The Minister of Health, Imer Selmani, who was present at event for marking the beginning of the campaign “Celebrate the Life”, announced that the new mammograph is expected to arrive at the Clinical Center before The New Year. The machine is a donation from Greece, worth 700 thousand Euros. The campaign of “Zivotna Iskra” will also be directed towards the institutions, which will be asked to put the fight against the malignant diseases on a national strategy level. At the beginning of the campaign, the association members were distributing educational brochures which explained the women how to do self-examination of the breasts, and to contact their GP if they come across any changes. Although each change does not necessarily mean the presence of breast cancer, women are strongly advised to self-examine from time to time. No disease should we be ashamed of. Changes in any organ must not be ignored, the experts warn.  M.K.