MUMBAI: Women’s beauty brand AVON continues its crusade to prevent and fight Breast Cancer with the launch of Take A #BreastBreak’ campaign for Indian women as well as their families. A global initiative by AVON, Take A #BreastBreak is to help support early detection of breast cancer around the world. To spread its campaign across a larger number of people in India, AVON has collaborated with the India Runway Week to host an exclusive fashion show with designer Anupama Dayal with the ‘Pink’ theme — which has today come to represent breast cancer awareness.

There were 2 million new cases of breast cancer reported globally last year1 and the Indian Council for Medical Research reports 1.5 lakh new breast cancer cases in India, of which 70,000 succumb every year2. According to a AVON survey conducted in 2017, women often spend little time on their own preventative health, and traditional gender norms expect women to care and prioritize the needs of family members often at the expense of their own health. Hence, AVON has launched the campaign and has activated its 5 million rep, equipping them with information and advice to ensure they are encouraging women around the world to take a ‘Breast Break’. This includes opening dialogue about regular self-checks, being aware of any changes in breast appearance, or making time to speak with a medical professional.

According to the World Health Organisation early detection is the most important component of breast cancer control3. Most doctors also believe mammography to be the best way for detecting breast cancer at its nascent stage but is not widely adopted in India4. With this campaign, AVON India aims to raise awareness about the prevalence of breast cancer among Indian women urging them to self- examine, detect the problem and come forward well in time.

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“AVON is at the forefront in the fight against breast cancer for 27 years now, with AVON India being globally recognised for its dedication towards making breast cancer awareness central to our mission. An early awareness and detection of the disease is half the battle won and our continued approach this year is to initiate a nation-wide drive to educate people on self-examination and break some myths about breast cancer,” said Dronacharya Chakraborty, Managing Director, AVON India.

At the India Runway Week, all attendees at the fashion week will be given a pink lipstick and asked to change their lip colour to show their support to the campaign. AVON will also conduct a panel discussion with breast-cancer survivors who will speak about the importance of conducting self-examinations, the prevalence of breast cancer in India and the importance of early diagnosis. Further, the brand will also host an on-the-ground event and engage with different bloggers.

“Statistics show that for every 2 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer, one woman dies of it in India5. We have been running the breast cancer awareness drive for three consecutive years now and our intention has not only been raising awareness but also equipping women with the knowledge of self-breast examination.  Our previous campaign – Pay Attention created a huge buzz and AVON India reached 1.09 billion people through offline activities. We continue our endeavors with our current campaign where educating people about breast cancer and how dangerous it can be if not detected early forms the crux. We are set to drive this for massive social impact beginning with the fashion show and hope to make some noise and create awareness about breast cancer,” said Swati Jain, Marketing Director, AVON India.

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The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, which launched in 1992, has placed Avon and the Avon Foundation at the forefront of the fight against breast cancer. The second edition of AVON’s Pay Attention campaign last year travelled across10 Indian cities teaching women to act well in time reaching millions of people.