Health Recipe for a Nation

Éva Körtvélyes, President of the Bridge of Health Alliance, an NGO that has been running the yearly Pink Bridge campaigns, is very clear about the benefits. She says: “As a breast cancer survivor, the greatest result in my opinion is that we put breast cancer, screening, self examination and healthy lifestyle on the agenda of Hungary’s public speech. They were not on it before we started in 2002.”

GE Healthcare illuminates the Chain Bridge in pink, Budapest

“As a practitioner, I have seen a major change in behavior and awareness among Hungarian women when they see a doctor. We can all be very proud of the fact that we have a nationwide call-recall breast cancer screening program. It is a major undertaking as it is financed by the National Health Insurance Fund Administration of Hungary (OEP). This scheme was unique in 2002 and remains unique in our geographic region. The question is how many women show up? According to statistical data, the number of women who attended by invitation has increased from 38% to 46% since 2002, which is great. These results give us hope that we can soon reach at least 70%, which is the inflexion point when the mortality rate starts decreasing. So the Alliance has to continue its work” – says László Vass M.D., Ph.D., Past President of the World Society for Breast Health.

1.200 celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Alliance with a walk and pink ribbon picture in 2011

It’s hard to believe it was 10 year ago when I was asked by the then US Ambassador, Nancy G. Brinker , to design Hungary’s first health awareness project of this magnitude to complement the government’s newly launched nationwide breast cancer screening program. My first thought was to create an emblematic picture to captivate the media and the people. It was obvious that it should be the Chain Bridge lit in pink, a landmark under the King’s Castle overarching the Danube, as it represents the progress of the country. This is how the Bridge of Health, a double pink ribbon, has become the symbol of breast cancer awareness here. In addition to the location you needed to populate that picture with celebrities, government, NGOs, companies, cancer survivors and doctors to demonstrate that the topic was important and the issue required the collaboration of many people in order to be resolved. Messages were easy: attend screening if called and lead a healthy life to reduce risk (from 2003).

And the media bought it. We all should be very grateful to them as they have conveyed that picture and the messages ever since every October. Thus, the media has become part of an innovative value creation for the benefit of a whole nation, given that we all have female relatives. This best practice uses only several companies’ resources – financial, networks and communications practices – and no government funds.

Three years ago GE helped the Alliance to develop a new product. It is an online-offline all-employee campaign that makes this nationwide initiative accessible for the companies who join the Partnerchain . This is already beyond general awareness, as it helps companies as communities to change people’s attitude. The Hungarian American Chamber of Commerce has been a major partner in engaging CEOs.

If you live in a country where the government wants to launch a similar screening program, we would be happy to share this proven recipe with you…

A mutual initiative of NGOs, the government and business representatives, where celebrities serve as message ambassadors. The Hungarian President’s wife is in the middle of the picture (pink scarf).

Double human-ribbon by GE Healthcare, in Hungary