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Gabriela Moreno

Professor P. Mirchandani

ENC 1101 – Project 2, Statement of Purpose and Design Plan, Final Version

March 18, 2024

Research question: How can we improve breast cancer awareness, early detection, and access to

treatment among women in Panama?

Breast Cancer Awareness in Panama

“Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women worldwide”

(Łukasiewicz, 2021). As one can predict, Panama is no exception to this. Breast cancer has

affected women’s health in Panama for decades and its incidence keeps increasing over time.

Additionally, it is a problem that can have an impact on the life of the patient and the people that

surround her. With that mentioned, it’s time to take action and advocate for this issue by creating

public conscience in Panama and promoting early action. By implementing comprehensive

educational initiatives, accessible screening programs, and improving healthcare infrastructure,

we can enhance breast cancer awareness, and early detection rates, and ensure equitable access to

treatment among women in Panama, ultimately reducing the burden of the disease and improving

patient outcomes.

The main purpose of this advocacy project is to create awareness about breast cancer

among Panamanian women. We have to make sure that women in Panama know about one of the

most frequent cancers in Panama, which are its symptoms, its variables, its risk factors, treatment

options, etc. Besides that, our goal is to promote and encourage the early detection and treatment

of the disease because this can help increase the patient’s chances of survival and prevent cancer

from metastasizing to other parts of the body. Also, this project aims to unmask some of the lies
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that exist about this issue, such as survivors having a bad quality of life and being alone

throughout and after the journey. Furthermore, I would like to find ways in which breast cancer

patients can get access to adequate treatment.

As we already know, this advocacy project is not intended for everyone, and with the

purpose stated, it is easier to determine the specific group of people that this project will mainly

be aimed at. Panamanian women 40 years or older are the principal target since that is the age

recommended to start doing their annual breast check-ups. However, it is not restricted to only

that population considering that women from all ages in Panama can benefit from the

information provided. Moreover, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other advocacy

groups are, as well, considered part of the advocacy project’s audience because they can help the

message reach further and impact more people. Finally, as mentioned previously, this project

wants to find ways in which breast cancer patients can get the help they need. As a consequence,

it would be really helpful if some corporations or companies got interested too, for the reason

that they can make big changes by contributing to hospital’s equipment or donating money so

low-income patients have the chance of getting adequately treated, among other ways in which

they can lend a hand.

To clarify why this project is being done, I must explain a little bit about the context. As

stated before, Panamanian women can suffer from BC and the number of victims keeps going up.

We live in a society that is trying to make relevant changes regarding breast cancer. Many

campaigns and foundations are currently offering their help. Nevertheless, not many people care

about this disease unless they have it or some patients do not possess the resources to fight

against it, and this must be changed. On top of that, from a personal standpoint, losing a loved

one because of a disease that could have been treated is something that changes your life
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completely. Events of this type make you grieve for an indeterminate time and knowing that you

will never be able to hug, talk to, or see that person anymore is just heartbreaking. No one should

go through this, no more tears should be watered, not anymore.

I intend to evoke pathos with the personal story of a relative who had cancer and fought

against it. Sadly, the cancer metastasized to the other breast, and she passed away, leaving two

children motherless at a young age. With this story, I want to make people understand that this is

a serious disease that affects the Panamanian woman, and it could impact anyone, not only the

patient’s life but also the lives of the people who surround her and care for her, such as relatives

and close friends.

Apart from that, the project needs other rhetorical strategies (ethos and logos) to support

its argument. Ethos will be created by using articles written by credible people and by making

my writing reliable, clear, with no grammatical errors, and polished. Lastly, logos will be evoked

through the use of statistics and facts about breast cancer.

The medium that will be used to present this advocacy project to the people is a website

done, most probably, through the Wix platform. So, this website will consist of five parts. First,

there will be the Homepage, which will explain the whole project. Specifically, the mission and

vision will be stated here. Second, there will be the “Understanding Breast Cancer” page because

the audience needs to be as informed as possible about breast cancer’s general information (what

it is, symptoms, risk factors, healthy life, detection exams, and possible treatments) to create

their own opinions regarding the movement. I need to clarify that, in this section, I will make use

of the information from most of the websites and articles I have found so far. “Breast Cancer in

Panama” will be the third part. That section will serve as an informative part about Panamanian

statistics on breast cancer and the predictions and trends for the year 2030. In addition, in this
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third part, I will mention the study about the Quality of Life (QOL) of breast cancer survivors in

Panama. After that, I will include the “About Me” page, in which I will give some information

and details on the author’s life, and education, among other things (Gabriela Moreno). The last

section of the website will cover the works cited and the references that were used throughout the

entire website.

Aside from the website’s organization, a project like this must take seriously the

characteristics of the website. For that reason, pink, as breast cancer’s representative color, will

be the predominant color throughout the whole site. Evidently, using only one color will make

the site appear monotonous and dull, which is the reason why different shades of pink and white

will be employed. Finally, only the necessary information and illustrations will be presented to

not saturate the audience’s minds with so much data, bore them to death, and eventually lead

them to stop reading the project and lose all interest in it. To sum up, it will be a serious, direct,

and striking kind of website that will permit the readers to navigate effortlessly and find the data

they want to know.

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Works Cited

Łukasiewicz, Sergiusz, et al. “Breast Cancer—Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Classification,

Prognostic Markers, and Current Treatment Strategies—An Updated Review.” Cancers,

vol. 13, no. 17, 2021, pp. 4287-, https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13174287.