More than 6,000 community health workers across the country have been tasked to teach different women about self-examination and encourage them to go for breast cancer screening. This is in line with the ongoing campaign that kicked off in October, a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness. According to Dr Francois Uwinkindi, Division Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases Division at the Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC), the door to door campaign started in Nyarugenge district but will be implemented in other parts of the country as well. “In partnership with the local government, the community health workers will start from Isibo level because they know households that have women and will be able to help them accordingly,” he said. Dr Uwinkindi said that the goal of the campaign is to promote early detection which is crucial to reduce cases of breast cancer, adding that the community health workers will teach women how to self-check themselves and be able to identify any change and then go to the hospital. “Most women in the country have limited information on breast cancer, but learning self-examination, is very helpful because breast cancer starts usually when it is just a small tumor, and by the time one starts noticing change it is already too big or painful, which is too late,” he added. “We have cases where women come to hospitals when the tumors in their breasts are too big, but normally if they had self-checked themselves early then the patient would have noticed the change when the tumor is still little and we would have been able to help before the cancer spreads even beyond the breast” said Uwinkindi. In Rwanda there are 740 cases of breast cancer, however, the World Health Organization estimates 1,230 cases a year. Uwinkindi explained that this is because “there is still a large number of women in communities who have breast cancer but due to limited information they have not sought treatment and that is why more awareness campaigns are needed.” Césarie Mukambayire a community health worker said it will mostly help women in rural communities who do not have enough information about breast cancer symptoms, adding that through this campaign she might be able to save lives by teaching these women how to self-check themselves and seek help in time.
