Ladies in Kenya on Thursday marked the Breast Cancer Awareness month in a new way through the use of WhatsApp statuses.
Ladies in the country chose to use the heart emoji on their statuses without comments to mark the week for breast cancer prevention.
The gesture left a lot of men surprised as they were not aware of why every lady was putting the emoji.
Kenyans.co.ke spoke to a lady who opted to remain anonymous. She stated that the reason behind the emoji was to show unity among the ladies who have or are being affected by breast cancer.
“It is the month that we remember how serious breast cancer is and how many women have faced this problem.
"The heart emoji is to remind women that everyone of them is prone to this type of cancer and should not keep quiet about it,” remarked the lady.
In June this year, a group of 81 breast cancer patients were forced to delay their treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) after the hospital ran out of a crucial drug used in the treatment.
Swiss pharmaceutical company named Roche, which had entered a partnership with the Ministry of Health was to supply the drug known as Herceptin for free at KNH where the patients had been registered.
The ministry was to cover 50 percent of the cost as part of the agreement signed in May 2017 while the pharmacy was to provide the other half.
The agreement sought to increase the accessibility of the drug that would cost a patient Ksh 250,000 per dose or Ksh 4.5 million for the entire 18-dose regimen.
Cancer treatments are supposed to be very consistent to increase the chances of success where a delay in the issuance of the doses mostly leads to deterioration of the condition of the patient.
