The iconic Apia Town clock lit up in pink on Monday night to mark the beginning of  “Pinktober.”

The campaign driven by the Samoa Cancer Society is focused on raising awareness about breast cancer.

Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa Cancer Society (S.C.S.), Shelley Burich, said that the pink lights with the pink ribbon are the official symbol for breast cancer.

She said that in previous years, the town clock was painted pink but this year they wanted to try something different.

“Like anything, you are always looking for something new and especially to grab people’s attention,” she said.

“Breast cancer has the highest number of 50-80 patients a year and that is quite a lot of people. We see over a hundred patients a year but out of all our patients, 90 per cent are females. Our society is always looking for ways to get people to engage so this is just another way of doing that.

“The Prime Minister has put out a directive to the public service that on the first and 25^th of October, all public servants are to wear pink.”

She added that some of the activities lined up for Pinktober include: outreach programmes with government ministries who have requested for cancer awareness.

“Other activities are fundraising initiatives like the pink luncheon at Sheraton; another event is the breast cancer survivors’ breakfast.

“We are hosting the breakfast at Return to Paradise Resort, and we are asking our patron the Minister of Health to close Pinktober.

“We would like to acknowledge Cabella Pacific Construction Samoa Ltd for setting up the lights, they also helped paint the clock when Manamea Apelu Schwalger was around, and she was a big advocate for breast cancer.”

She also thanked Pacific Electrics, Bluesky and Siva Afi.

“It has been a collective effort; they all shared the same thoughts on doing it for a good cause.”