First Lady Samina Arif Alvi on Tuesday urged social media users to start an awareness drive on Breast Cancer to overcome the barriers of shyness and social taboos about the disease for early detection and cure. “Hiding the disease in the name of social taboo is not a solution and it is essential for youth to speak upon it to help the women get early diagnosis and thus protect their lives”, she stressed while speaking to a private news channel. She also reassured her resolve to continue organizing such awareness activities on breast cancer. Samina Alvi emphasized that there was a need for sensitizing women about self-examination because breast cancer did not affect only a woman but the whole family bears consequences in terms of social and financial impacts. Through effective use of media platforms, misconceptions in the general public regarding this curable disease can be rectified and wiped out, she added. She said that women who recover from the disease could also play an important role in creating awareness among other women, adding, the majority of the population is in rural areas and not aware of such diseases where we need to focus. “Breast cancer is the most common cancer globally and in Pakistan and we are committed to improving long-term disease control and survival for breast cancer patients”, she added. She said social media should become a part of the breast cancer awareness campaigns, adding that social media could prove an effective platform for creating awareness about breast cancer and helping reduce the mortality rate in Pakistan caused by this deadly disease.