In rural Malawi, a pioneering training program for health workers is empowering women to detect breast cancer, with the aim of alleviating the disease’s burden in the country.
Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa grapple with high mortality rates from breast cancer, often due to late diagnoses and limited access to treatment. Malawi faces this challenge, with breast cancer ranking as the third most common cancer in women and low survival rates post-diagnosis.
The Institute of Global Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has initiated a project in Malawi called “Akazi,” which means women in the local Chichewa language. This program focuses on three components: national breast care assessment, services available in rural clinics, and services available in district and central hospitals.
The training equips healthcare providers working in rural areas with comprehensive knowledge about early breast cancer detection and how to assess women with breast cancer symptoms. As a result, practitioners can provide health talks on breast cancer and inform communities about the disease.
The project has successfully raised awareness about breast cancer symptoms in the hospital’s catchment area, leading to a higher number of individuals seeking medical attention when anomalies are suspected.
The idea for this initiative stemmed from concerns about the rise in breast cancer cases in Malawi, including delays in women seeking treatment. Jakub Gajewski, director of the research program at the Institute of Global Surgery, explained that limited awareness about breast cancer and misconceptions, such as associating the disease with witchcraft, were contributing factors.
Malawi faced challenges such as a shortage of treatment options, including mammography, chemotherapy, and breast cancer surgeons, along with limited specialist time available for a significant population.
The Institute of Global Surgery collaborated with Malawi’s Ministry of Health to develop a breast cancer curriculum for Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, addressing the absence of such offerings in the country’s medical schools.
Gajewski’s hope is for the three-day course to be extended throughout Malawi, promoting breast cancer awareness and empowering individuals to differentiate it from other malignancies.
Despite the absence of a national cancer registry, waiting lists for women to see specialists in Lilongwe and Blantyre highlight the pressing need for improved breast cancer healthcare systems.
Malawi faces a skills gap, with a shortage of surgeons trained to operate on breast cancer and oncologists who can prescribe and treat it. The Akazi project is making women aware of how to protect themselves from breast cancer and seek medical care as early as possible, a crucial step in improving outcomes for this disease.
In summary, the Akazi project in Malawi is training healthcare providers and raising awareness to combat breast cancer, a significant health challenge in the country. By empowering communities and healthcare workers, the initiative aims to improve early detection and treatment, ultimately reducing the burden of breast cancer in Malawi.
