Bollywood Breast Awareness

"Bollywood films will be the best medium in creating awareness about cancer in women especially breast cancer and also give confidence to them in order to involve the entire community to work on prevention," Brinker said while talking to media on the sidelines of the 6th Tata Memorial Hospital Women's Cancer Initiative Conference on Saturday.

Brinker, a cancer patient herself, founded the Susan G Komen for the Cure in 1982 after her sister died of breast cancer.

Brinker said that Indian government should set up a lot of regional cancer centres so that people living in remote areas can avail the facilities at the nearest location.

"This is important as the crisis of cancer is being ignored even by the United Nations's Millenium programme and other international health institutions," she said in her key-note address "Breast Cancer Alleviation".

It was also important to get the community involved in the prevention of cancer, especially the women in the prevention and early diagnosis programme, she said.

The challenge for the NGOs and governments is not just treatment, research or funding but the total involvement of the community to take up the cause for prevention, said Brinker.

Advocating women volunteers how to mobilise funds for their programmes through private sector and philanthropists especially for programmes for poor people, she said it is everyone's duty to free women from the misery.