Relaying the message on cancer

Hongkongers joined people from more than 80 places around the world yesterday in a charity walk to raise awareness of cancer in women.

Cancers of the uterus lining and of the ovaries are on the rise in Hong Kong, where they are the fourth and sixth most common cancers among women.

"All women should know about these cancers. There are many who don't even know they exist," said Professor Hextan Ngan Yuen-sheung, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Hong Kong.

She and the Anti-Cancer Society organised the walk as part of international event Globeathon, to promote the importance of regular check-ups and early detection in reaching the goal of eliminating women's cancers.

Globeathon started several years ago with a gynecologic cancer expert's 72-hour relay walk around the United States capital Washington with a few colleagues. The number of participants grew, and they decided to invite people across the globe to organise walks all on the same day of the year.

Around 400 people walked along the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday in different time slots, so that the event lasted from morning until night. They uploaded their photos of the walk to Globeathon's Facebook site.