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Весаusе life ╕з Веаutiful UKRAINE NATION-WIDE EDUCATION CAMPAIGN "KNOWLEDGE OVERCOMES CANCER"On November 17, 2002, the Ukrainian House in Kyiv hosted a charitable event "Because Life is Beautiful" to raise public awareness about breast cancer. The event is a part of Ukraine Nation-Wide Education Campaign "Knowledge Overcomes Cancer". The event was supported by well-known Ukrainian singers - Oleksandr Vasylenko and "Pikardiyska Tertsia." Leading Ukrainian designers - Tetyana Abramova, Anna Babenko, Victoria Ores, Oksana Karavanska, Larysa Kononko, and Snizhana Nekh - presented their new collections as part of the event, and several outstanding Ukrainian artists - Nina Denysova, Lesia Dovzhenko, Iryna Yeremeyeva, Tetyana Kolechko, Iryna Kudina, Vera Kuleba-Barynova, Yaroslava Kutsay, and Olena Pryduvalova - offered their paintings for re-print as note cards to raise funds for the nation-wide breast cancer awareness campaign. In Ukraine, the breast cancer death rate remains one of the highest hi Europe, although the illness rate in Ukraine is lower than those in the United States and Western European countries. Annually breast cancer is diagnosed hi 15,000 Ukrainian women, 20 percent of these dying in the following year. In forty percent of all breast cancer cases, the illness is identified at a late stage when saving women's lives is nearly impossible, and only 12 percent of cases are detected at an early stage (in comparison, late stage detection of breast cancer in the USA occurs in only 10 to 15 percent of cases). The main rea-sons for this are low awareness among Ukrainian women about breast cancer and a lack of modern medical equipment for early detection. There are some 300 mammography machines (breast X-ray machines) in Ukraine, but only 15 percent of the machines meet the requirements for modern equipment. As a result, it becomes very difficult to diagnose breast cancer early, when cancer in 94 percent of cases can be successfully cured. The critical situation with breast cancer in Ukraine is further aggravated by the lack of medical (chemotherapeutic) medications to treat patients. Chemotherapy is a principal treatment for women with breast cancer. Although the State Program "Oncology 2002-2006" has provided UAH 84 million for the purchase of drugs to treat adults in Ukraine, financing has not started yet. This factor limits the possibility for a majority of women with breast cancer to receive full medical treatment as they can not afford to pay for the treatment themselves. As a result, breast cancer contributes greatly to the high mortality rate among women in Ukraine. To inform Ukrainian society about the social consequences of this disease, the following Ukrainian NGOs have combined their efforts to conduct the nation-wide information campaign "Knowledge Overcomes Cancer" of which this event is a part: the Center for Ukrainian Reform Education (CURE) as implementor of the Ukrainian Reform Education Program (sponsored by USAID); Charitable Fund "Women's Health and Family Planning"; Ukrainian Women's Fund; National Council of Women of Ukraine; AICA Ukrainian Section; and Winrock International (together with the International "Renaissance" Foundation and USAID). Numerous information events have been conducted in Ukraine within the campaign in October ("Breast Cancer Prevention Month"). Educational brochures and posters were published and distributed to the population, and infomercials about the importance of self-examination to detect breast cancer in the early stage were produced and aired by CURE. The charitable event "Because Life is Beautiful" was also supported by the Ukraine National Complex ExpoCenter and Ukrainian House. Charitable funds collected will be used to purchase diagnostic equipment - mammography machines - in order to enable Ukrainian women to diagnose breast cancer in it's early stages. Organizing Committee SPONSOR OF THE CHARITABLE ACTION "BECAUSE LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL" 
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