Indian Actress Fakes Her Death To Raise Awareness On Cervical Cancer

Written by Afua Amankwanowa

On Friday, February 2, Poonam Pandey’s official instagram posted a statement announcing the death of the 32 year old actress, stating her brave fight through the illness of cervical cancer till her death. 

Many believed her death and this was taken by news outlets all around the world. The news was everywhere within some minutes of its release. 

Social media was full of tributes for the actress only for her to release a video after a video after a day apologizing for the the panic caused. 

She said in a video on her instagram that she faked her death for a campaign to create awareness about about cervical cancer. She added that she was proud of the news since she achieved her goal of creating awareness of cervical cancer. 

The post of her death followed an announcement by the Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman saying things are being put in place to vaccinate girls between 9 to 14 years of age.

Speculations state that  Poonam’s fake death was a part of publicity by the government to create awareness for cervical cancer. There have no confirmation by both parties. 

Apart from drawing attention to cervical cancer the scandal has lead to conversations about the methods used and lengths people go to create awareness on serious and sentive issues like cervical cancer.