At 7.3 kilometers in length, the massive pink ribbon was unveiled by the AVI Organization for Heath Awareness and Development in the presence of a Guinness Book of Records adjudicator.
The current record was set in Gujarat, India on January 10, 2020 at a length of 7.1652 kilometers.
Confirmation of the new world record is expected in the coming weeks.
Sulaimani also hosted a three kilometer charity run. Rudaw was the official media sponsor of the event.
“I am telling those diagnosed with cancer that we are supporting them and today’s marathon that we held was to tell them that we are on their side,” one participant told Rudaw.
“Our message to cancer patients is do not surrender, life goes on and you are brave enough to overcome it,” another said.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) established the Project Hevi (Hope) fundraiser in 2018 to benefit cancer patients and has allocated $20 million to fight the disease and help families affected.
The aim of the project is to ease the burden on families who are often forced to pay large sums for specialized treatments abroad.
“Unfortunately, just like the rest of the world, the cancer rate is on the rise year by year in the Kurdistan Region,” Dr. Dostri Rasool, director of Hiwa Hospital, told Rudaw.
In a tweet, Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, said the government will continue to support “those who work tirelessly to raise awareness about this dreadful disease”.
“I hope to see an end to suffering of patients and their loved ones as scientists work to find a cure for cancer, a leading cause of death in Kurdistan and the world,” Barzani added.
According to the KRG ministry of health, there were 5,180 reported cancer cases in the Kurdistan Region until the end of 2019 – a rate of 90 cases in every 100,000 people.
A rate of 300 cases in every 100,000 is considered high on the world scale, while a rate of 100 in every 100,000 is considered low.
