Stronger together – Anita care supports ‘Health Days’ for breast cancer prevention

Anita care supports Think Pink Europe project ‘Health Days’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina

'Stronger together', this was the motto of the Anita care October campaign in 2020. For every promotion item sold, € 1 went into the donation pot for the Think Pink Europe project ‘Health Days’ in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). At the end of the campaign, ANITA doubled the amount.

16,000 € was handed over for the project, which is committed to organising breast cancer education and prevention in remote areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

"It is a sad fact that breast cancer survival rates vary depending on where you live in Europe," says Jürgen Vanpraet, Managing Director Think Pink Europe. "Prevention is so important. Because the earlier the disease is detected, the better the chances of getting cured. And that's where projects like Health Days come in."

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH), the information available on health education and prevention is extremely limited. Women rarely receive basic medical care or preventive examinations, so unfortunately breast cancer is also detected far too rarely at an early stage. Especially in rural areas, women often do not know which preventive services are available to them.

With the support of Anita care, three Community Health Days were organised in different remote locations with local breast cancer NGOs. In these places, there are no health facilities to conduct breast cancer screening. 

"We are very happy to have the support of Anita care. During the three Health Days, around 150 women were able to benefit from a free mammography screening," explains Nela Hasić, Managing Director Think Pink Sarajevo. Medical professionals as well as breast cancer survivors were available on-site to answer questions and provide information.

The ANITA Group, proud Think Pink Europe partner

ANITA Dr Helbig GmbH is a globally pioneering family-run company based in the Bavarian town of Brannenburg specialising in women's lingerie and swimwear. A niche supplier, ANITA stands out through its extensive range of beachwear, lingerie, sports bras and nursing bras, right over to special bras and breast forms.

The ANITA Group is represented worldwide with around 1,700 members of staff and 20 companies across 16 countries. It employs over 100 sales representatives around the world and works with numerous importers and exclusive general agencies. Our products are supplied to customers in over 60 countries.

We produce our goods in line with the highest European quality standards at each of the seven production sites operated by us throughout Europe and Asia.

The company took to the international stage in the 1980s with the launch of its second design-focused brand, ROSA FAIA. The two company brands ANITA since 1886 and ROSA FAIA stand for top comfort, quality and fit right through to larger cups and sizes. 

With 135 years of know-how, the lingerie specialist enjoys an excellent reputation and counts among the most successful manufacturers in the textile industry.

Interview with Jürgen Vanpraet,Managing Director Think Pink Europe and Nela Hasic, Director of Think Pink in Bosnia-Herzegovina

How long has Think Pink Europe existed and what was the motivation for founding Think Pink?

Think Pink Europe started in March 2018 as a kind of regrouping of all kind of breast cancer organisations everywhere in Europe. What we saw is that a lot of experiences, good experiences, did not reach everybody as fast to learn from each other. So exchanging best practices was a very big motivation for us. A second important thing was to organise Race for the Cure all over Europe. This big dream of having the same event in more or less the same moment all over Europe. Reuniting a lot of people around the same cause, breast cancer. These two things were our biggest motivation to start up Think Pink Europe. 

The collaboration with Anita care – how did it come about?

For many years we have been working together with Anita Care. It is a brand and a company that is close to the values of the organisations involved in Think Pink Europe. Caring for breast cancer patients and giving specific care support during the most difficult period of their life, is so important for so many women. That is why Anita and Anita Care programs are important to get involvement everywhere in Europe.

All across Europe, Think Pink works with organisations, hospitals and support groups to raise funds and awareness to tackle breast cancer.

The health days project is a perfect example of why this collaboration in Europe is needed. In remote areas, women don’t always have access to normal healthcare. That is why we go into mountain areas, remoted areas with adapted vehicles to give them the health care they need. Especially healthcare connected to breast cancer. That is why we set up this project, and that’s how we see that we can help in areas where normal health is not yet organised.

We are very happy that we were able to support the 'Health Day' in Bosnia-Herzegovina with our donation of € 16,000. What exactly could be realised with the money?

With the support of Anita, we have organized 3 Community Health Days in three underprivileged and remote locations, in partnerships with 3 different, local breast cancer NGOs. Community Health Days were organized in Jajce (18.09.2020.), Široki Brijeg (21.09.2020.) and Gacko (22.09.2020.), in accordance with epidemiological measures and recommendation for prevention of virus spreading and preserving the health of participants. In these three places, health institution for providing breast cancer detection checkups does not exist; mammography and breast ultrasound checkups are not provided in health institutions.

How many women were able to have a check-up during the Health Days last October?

During three Community Health Days, 148 women were provided with free mammogram checkups, along with educational outreach by medical professionals and breast cancer survivors on site. 

What happens next with the project?

In the future period, we plan to organise 5 additional  Health Days events in 5 locations across Bosnia and Herzegovina in Spring or Autumn 2021, depending on the epidemiological situation in the country and recommendations and restriction measures of national and local authorities in preventing virus spreading among the population.

For the time being, we cannot state the exact locations, since they are subject to detailed planning with our local partners in the field, respecting our common criteria: remote locations, rural areas, lack of mammogram machine in local health institutions, lack of social and/or health care insurance among women.

What are your plans for the next year?

We want to continue this work also in 2021 and beyond. And hopefully with the help of Anita Care. Because it is so important to get everybody involved in normal health care, and actually lift up to what we call normal health care. And people need this support, people will need this help also in the next years in some areas in Europe. That is why these solidarity actions are so important.

When you think about the years being active for Think Pink – what were your most moving projects?

My most moving moment was last year in September when we were able to organise the race for the cure in a digital way. Not only in 32 countries with 36 charities involved, but also in so many countries having the same event on the same weekend with so many people walking and running for breast cancer. And this year we are back from Sunday 26th of September until Sunday 10th of October. We will have races all over Europe once again.