Press Release

Brest Friends Festival in partnership with Al Jalila Foundation to make debut in Dubai

Brest Friends in partnership with Al Jalila Foundation presents the first annual Brest Friends Festival, a fun filled community event in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The festival to be held on Friday, 27 October 2017 from 8am to 8pm at Al Barsha Pond Park will host a series of wellness activities, a walk for hope, food trucks, a market and various entertainment bringing residents and organisations together to support a cause that affects millions of women around the world.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an international health campaign every October to increase awareness of the disease and raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

The Brest Friends Festival is expected to draw a crowd of over 2000 people who will take part in the health and wellness initiative with all proceeds from the event going to support patients with breast cancer and funding vital medical research in the UAE. The festival’s primary aim is to raise awareness on the importance of early detection and give hope to breast cancer patients and convey the message that that the disease can be beaten – that there is life after cancer.

It is estimated that one in eight women will develop breast cancer during their life, making it among the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women.  In the UAE, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and with the average age of diagnoses 10 years younger than elsewhere in the world.

Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, Chief Executive Officer of Al Jalila Foundation, said: “With the high prevalence of breast cancer among women in the UAE, it is clear that research and improved treatment are integral to combating the disease and ultimately, saving lives. Historically there has been little medical research on breast cancer done locally. In line with Al Jalila Foundation’s mission to encourage home-grown talent and boost medical research, we have already invested almost AED 2 million towards breast cancer research since 2014. Events like the Brest Friends Festival help us spread awareness on the importance of research and enable everyone to make a contribution to the future health of the UAE.”

Brest Friends, the first breast cancer support group in the UAE, was established by Dr Houriya Kazim, the UAE’s first female surgeon, with the mission to save lives by increasing awareness of breast cancer and providing a platform where patients and survivors can learn, share experiences and offer moral and emotional support to each other which has proven to be instrumental in a woman’s healing process.

Dr Houriya Kazim, President and Founder of Brest Friends, commented: “We have all been affected by breast cancer in some way, the Brest Friends Festival is an opportunity to bring the community together to honour breast cancer patients, survivors and remember the people we have lost. It is also a day to give hope that the disease can be beaten. As the month draws to an end, I would like to remind everyone that breast cancer awareness should not be limited to the month of October and call on the community to keep the message alive all-year round. I can not emphasize enough the importance of early detection, do not wait until October to take action.”

The festival will kick off with a 1.5km walk around the park led by Emirati Fitness and Dubai Drums alongside Al Jalila Foundation and Brest Friends. The walk will be followed by wellness activities including exercise zones offering complimentary classes throughout the day like Yoga, Pilates, Zumba, spinning sessions and much more. For the kids there will be water slides, inflatables and a soft play area. Families can enjoy the food trucks, local vendors and an organic farmers market with various delicacies.

The Brest Friends Festival is supported by Links Group, Emirates NBD, Dhamani, Dubai Stars, Bee’ah, Mediclinic, Masafi, Halza, Grand Millennium Hotel and Elabelz.com.

The activities will be conducted by Fitness Partners including Switch DXB, NRG Fitness, Motion, Rebel Fitness, Dubai Yoga, KO8, Yoga Retreats, Box IQ and Emirati Fitness.

 

Registration for the event is AED 50 for adults and free for children under the age of 12. All proceeds from the event go to supporting breast cancer patients.

 

For registration and more information about the festival please visit http://brestfriendsfestival.com/

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