Burgenland promotes breast cancer screening with Pink Ribbon events

A series of Pink Ribbon events across Burgenland in October will promote breast cancer screening and show solidarity with women affected by the disease, ORF reports.

About 7,000 women in Austria are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Only around 40 percent of those affected have taken up preventive screening, according to the report. Pink Ribbon events have been held in Burgenland during Breast Cancer Awareness Month since 2002.

The events also aim to encourage open discussion about the disease, said Andrea Konrad, managing director of Cancer Aid Burgenland. “In these 24 years of Pink Ribbon, we have seen that breast cancer no longer has to be a taboo subject and that patients are much more open about it,” she said.

Events include Pink Ribbon breakfast gatherings, a film night in Oberwart, a gala in Güssing and a matinee at the Landhaus. In the state capital, Eisenstadt, activities are taking place under the slogan “Eisenstadt goes Pink”. The city plans to make pink visible across town, from its buses to the Pestsäule column in the pedestrian zone, Mayor Thomas Steiner said. The campaign aims to raise awareness and highlight that prevention and early detection can save lives.

A benefit evening titled “Together against breast cancer” is scheduled for Wednesday evening at Esterhazy Palace as part of the Estée Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Campaign. Agnes Ottrubay is its patron.