JEDDAH, Jul 28 (Arab News): A breast cancer awareness campaign that kicked off in Jeddah on Tuesday hopes to break a Guinness World Record for the largest human awareness ribbon.

Thousands of women and girls aged 12 and above are expected to don pink abayas and head scarves to form a huge ribbon shape as part of the record-breaking attempt later this year. The pink ribbon is seen as the international symbol for breast cancer awareness.

The event was held under the patronage of the Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Foundation, while Princess Reema bint Bandar and the Al-Bidayah Breast Feeding Resource and Women’s Awareness Center at the Zahra Breast Cancer Association organized the initiative. The record-breaking attempt will take place in Jeddah on Oct. 28 this year, according to campaign spokesperson Modi Battergee, who is also a founding member of the Al-Bidayah Center.

The current record was set in Germany on June 29 2007, when 3,640 people formed a human ribbon for AIDS awareness in Frankfurt.

Women participating in the event want to express both their sense of belonging to Islam and their commitment to the awareness campaign, said Battergee.

Breast surgeon Dr. Muna Baslaim, who is also head of the breast unit at King Fahad General Hospital in Jeddah, said it was a challenge to collate up-to-date statistics on the number of breast cancer cases in the Kingdom, especially in rural areas.

Baslaim added that breast cancer mainly affects women in their 40s. She added that one in every 400 breast cancer cases is a man.

Baslaim said breast-feeding could protect women from falling victim to breast cancer. “We have witnessed cases of women where only one of their breasts was infected because they were not feeding their babies from it,” she said. The theme of the campaign this year is “A Woman’s Stand”.