October is world breast cancer month, it’s the time when the Pink Drive campaign gears up to spread the message that “Early detection saves lives”. Did you know that breast cancer is the leading diagnosis of cancer for women in South Africa? This is the same across race and class lines, so ladies take note! The condition can have serious ramifications and can even be fatal, and susceptibility increases with age. But it doesn’t have to be that way! If detected early, breast cancer has up to a 95% rate of being treatable. Women’s wellness should not just be just an individual’s concern either. We spend most of our time at work and employers have an ethical responsibility to build in employee wellness programs into their companies. Such programs should make allowance for access to women’s wellness.

If this is not happening in your workplace, it’s time to make a suggestion that your company invests in employee wellness training. iQ Academy offers a course in Employee Wellness as part of our accredited higher certificates which are easily accessible online. This will add value to any company and greatly improve the quality of life of every working person’s life. As modern women, we are often so busy with our careers and families, while many of us are also engaged in distance learning, we, therefore, end up relegating our own wellness into the background. This is not sustainable and could have dire consequences. So it’s time for a change. Here’s what we can do to make sure we are healthy so that we can keep holding up the sky both at work and in our families:

• According to experts, every woman should be doing her own breast examination once every month. Take a pause, examine your breasts. Look for changes such as lumps, swelling, and change around the nipple or swelling of glands in your armpits. It’s just a few minutes, but it could save your life.
• Research has shown that obesity, lack of fitness, overindulging in alcohol consumption, and smoking can cause one to be more susceptible to breast cancer. So it’s not rocket science, eat healthily and exercise.
• Lastly, at least once a year, each woman should have an annual women’s wellness checkup. This includes a checkup for your breasts and cervix.

During the month of October, the pink drive will be out and about in their pink trucks giving free breast examinations. Look out for them in your city!