During the gala dinner Gulnara Karimova, the chairperson of the Fund Forum’s Board of Trustees, presented free ultrasound equipment certificates to the representatives of cancer clinics in Uzbek regions and the Republic of Karakalpakstan. The organizers of the gala dinner include the Fund Forum, the Women’s Council and “In the Name of Life” National Breast Cancer Association.

A number of exquisite pieces by Yves Saint Laurent, Kamishima Chinami and Guli labels went under the hammer at a charity auction held as part of the gala dinner, which helped raise funds for the purchase of medications for women diagnosed with breast cancer.

The gala dinner was attended by Hollywood actor Matthias Hues, film critic Hans Schlegel, German film director Leo Khasin, Japanese fashion designer Kamishima Chinami, Spanish artist and collector Jorge Ontiveros, French film producer Regis Ghezelbash, Russian TV host Andrei Malakhov, Russian TV journalist Sergei Sholokhov, film director Yegor Konchalovsky, film director Sergei Solovyov, Japanese film director Shunya Ito, Azerbaijani cinematographer Yusif Sheikhov, Kyrgyz cinematographer Gulbara Talamusheva, Iranian film director Shahram Mokri, Russian musicians Igor Krutoi and Dmitri Hvorostovsky as well as breast care specialists Hanna Tidhar of Hadassah Medical Center (Israel), Roman Barak, chief doctor of Horev Medical Center (Israel), Hoon Kook, general director of Chonnam National University (South Korea) as well as a host of international guests attending Art Week, members of the diplomatic corps, culture and art professionals and journalists.

“The activities and efforts of the Fund Forum and the Women’s Council to fight breast cancer are yielding impressive results,” said Roman Barak of Israel’s Horev Medical Center. “They give hope to women faced with a problem as serious as breast cancer. So many women have been given the opportunity to receive free treatment for breast cancer as part of events and campaigns organized by these organizations. I would also like to note our collaborative project to create a genetic map of patients which, we hope, will help us to considerably decrease the incidence of breast cancer.”

The idea of organizing a charity gala dinner is an upshot of another charitable event, Campaign 14, held as part of last year’s Style.Uz Art Week. One woman in need of urgent medical treatment from each region, Tashkent city and the Republic of Karakalpkatsn had been selected for the project. Campaign 14 included a charity auction which raised funds that went toward medical treatment fir the 14 women. On May 26, 2011, breast cancer patient Zubaida Hamidova, one of the beneficiaries of “Campaign 14”, returned to Uzbekistan after a successful lumpectomy surgery in Israel. Prior to the surgery, Hamidova had received a 10-day treatment with chemo and radiotherapy in Tashkent. The remaining women received costly cancer care medication throughout a year free of charge.

Note: As many as 8,000 women across Uzbekistan have had the opportunity to participate in free diagnostics campaigns held in an effort to raise breast cancer awareness and detect breast cancer at an early stage in women in Uzbekistan. The events are held by “In the Name of Life” National Breast Cancer Association and the Women’s Council with support from EUROPA DONNA-Uzbekistan and the Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan. Over 3,000 women have been provided with much-needed drugs to the tune of 803,430,000 soums. Also organized are regular workshops for Uzbek specialists led by leading international breast care professionals, gynecologists and psychologists.