Breast Cancer Sensitization and Screening at Congo Market, Sierra Leone, Jan 18, 2024
2021 onwards Thinking Pink Breast Cancer Foundation in Partnership with Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) in Sierre Leone, Africa: Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) has been serving patients in Sierra Leone, supporting them with treatment Aid for the underprivileged since 2021 (Data attached) in collaboration with Thinking Pink, with detailed follow-up on the treatment and Aid-expenses of the patients. This year, in addition to patient treatment Aid, Breast Cancer Hub initiated a new program in Sierra Leone, Africa: Monthly Sensitization and Free Screening on a national level to visit schools, deprived communities, and marketplaces. This dream of mine could be only implemented because of the leadership and dedication of Mrs. Cremelda Parkinson Prett and the great team of Thinking Pink.
On the 18th of January 2024 the clinical team embarked on this new project and visited Congo Market for awareness/sensitization and free breast screening campaign. Congo market is situated in the Western area and is a very busy market. The team sent out a letter to inform the chairlady about our visit, and for her to inform the market women so that they would take full advantage of our campaign. The nurses and media team embarked on a social mobilization campaign the day before, informing the market women and shoppers about the campaign the next day. Upon arrival on the 18th, the team held a short meeting with the chairlady and her team engaging them about the importance of the awareness campaign “Early detection saves lives”.
The target group are mainly underprivileged women and girls as most of them have low awareness and still believe in the myths around breast cancer while others attribute lumps to minor ailments like boils. Because of these challenges women face plus the added responsibility of caring for their families, and their general inability to afford medical costs resort to receiving treatment from their local herbalists.
The chair lady was very supportive of our campaign which lasted for 6 hours and thanked the leadership for such a timely intervention at their marketplace. She provided a space for us to set up for registration and screening. We kicked off with sensitization to the market women with our megaphones, moving from stall after stall informing the market women and shoppers about the importance of screening and early detection. The participation we received was very encouraging and received positive responses from most of the market women. It is quite difficult to get these market women to leave their stalls to get screened but our intense campaign left them with no choice. One of these market women sent for her 13-year-old daughter whom she told us has an abnormal-sized Breast and after clinical exams, we diagnosed a lump.
The market women and shoppers expressed newfound knowledge and promised to prioritize their health. The interactions were very educative with the community asking the team, very relevant important questions. The nurse taught them how to perform Breast Self Examination.
The registration process was instructive taking their names, contact, address so that we can follow-up. The clinical team screened 46 patients wherein 9 identified abnormalities. We encouraged them to visit the clinic for further diagnosis with our doctors.
100% of Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) services are FREE of Cost, and 100% of donations are driven towards our mission (donor’s choice).
With gratitude,
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