Its CEO Teo Soo-Hwang said this was the reason why the death rate among women suffering from breast cancer was so high in Malaysia.
“It’s not because our medical facilities are inefficient at taking care of the problem. It’s because women believe they must make decisions based on what their husbands or their relatives want,” she said at a forum on women’s rights organised by Yayasan Sime Darby at the Sime Darby Convention Centre here today.
Teo said that based on a report from The Economist Intelligence Unit last year, Malaysia’s breast cancer survival rate was only at 49%.
“This was one of the lowest survival rates for the Asia Pacific region,” she said.
Teo said Malaysian women usually felt obligated to follow the advice of their husband and family, who, in some cases, would object to treatment for breast cancer.
“Sometimes, the husband would say ‘no, you can’t take away her breasts’ and the woman would oblige that kind of request.”
She said this kind of thinking and culture had to change if Malaysians wanted to see a decrease in the number of breast cancer sufferers dying.
“Women have to understand that the cure for breast cancer does not lie in some specialised lab, it lies in changing the mindsets of the women and empowering them to make their own decisions regarding their health.”
Also speaking at the forum was Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Jerald Joseph who said: “When you look at things from a human rights perspective then things become very clear and there are no grey areas because humans are humans whether they’re men or women and all have the same rights.
“Things that are wrong don’t suddenly become right because of the sex of the person being wronged. Health is a human right.”
On the notion that men were against their wives losing their breasts, Jerald said men had no right to determine that.
“Who are we (men) to say how women should look?”