Breast cancer remains a worldwide public health dilemma. Accounting for 508,000 deaths globally in 2011, a decade later — breast cancer has risen to become the most commonly occurring tumour worldwide. In 2020, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685,000 deaths globally. As of the end of 2020, there were 7.8 million women alive who were diagnosed with Breast Cancer in the past 5 years, making it the world’s most prevalent cancer

As the world progresses in its fight against Breast Cancer; awareness, public attentiveness and advancement in breast imaging have emerged to become the most effective strategies in this battle. This #PinkOctober, YouWeCan Foundation aims to fuel this fight against Breast Cancer with our initiative in association with the Ministry of Health Goa and SBI Foundation — ‘Swasth Mahila Swasth Goa Initiative’

The approach

The project facilitates women with proper awareness of early signs of breast cancer, teaches self-breast examination methods, and also provides screening opportunities with the iBreastExam device. The project team also aims to support the women identified with cancer, by providing all psychological and emotional support throughout their treatment period (with the support of Government Medical College, Goa.)

The target

Screening of 1,00,000 women within two years.

How does this help?

According to WHO, “Breast cancer treatment can be highly effective, especially when the disease is identified early. Treatment of breast cancer often consists of a combination of surgical removal, radiation therapy and medication (hormonal therapy, chemotherapy and/or targeted biological therapy) to treat the microscopic cancer that has spread from the breast tumor through the blood. Such treatment, which can prevent cancer growth and spread, thereby saves lives.” The target number of this initiative, accounts for approximately 50% of the age eligible female population in the state. With this approach, the foundation creates a system within which, detection of breast cancer is facilitated on a mass scale — thereby increasing the chances of better outcomes.