Campaign 99 (She Strives, and You Strive Alongside Her)

The One Million Free Early Screenings campaign aims to raise awareness across Iraq of the importance of early detection and to encourage people to get screened regularly, helping to save lives and reduce medical costs.
Campaign 99 ("She Strives, and You Strive Alongside Her"), one of the projects of the One Million Free Early Screenings campaign, offers free breast cancer screenings, with trained female doctors to ensure patients' comfort and privacy. The Imam Hussain Holy Shrine fully funds these screenings, out of its belief in the importance of raising awareness about early detection.

Breast cancer screening:
● When breast cancer is detected early, women have more treatment options and a better chance of recovery.
● The most common breast cancer screening tests are mammograms (breast X-rays) and clinical breast exams. Screening tests are used to detect breast cancer in women who have no warning signs or symptoms.
● If a mammogram shows something abnormal, you will need follow-up tests to check whether the finding is breast cancer. Sometimes breast cancer can be ruled out with other tests, such as a breast ultrasound or breast MRI.

Family history of breast cancer and genetics:
● Some women are at higher risk of breast cancer than others because other members of their family have had certain cancers. This is known as a "family history of cancer."
● Having a mother, sister, or daughter (a first-degree relative) with breast cancer roughly doubles the risk of breast cancer. The risk increases further when more close female relatives have had breast cancer, or if a relative was diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50.
● Breast cancer does not affect only women with a family history, but a family history does increase the risk, and the chance of developing breast cancer increases with age. Most breast cancers are diagnosed in women over the age of 50. Therefore, every woman, whether or not she has a family history of the disease, should have early breast cancer screening.