Maina Foundation celebrates October, the Breast Cancer Awareness month by organizing several awareness and screening camps in India
Somaiya Hospital held rallies and mammogram camps in rural areas of Angaon, 50 kilometers away from Mumbai. Similar events were also organized in the urban areas of Vidyavihar and Pratikshanagar, both located near the Medical college in Mumbai. The events were well attended with a positive response from women of both the communities.
Observation of Breast Cancer Awareness Month by department of Community Medicine, K.J.Somaiya Medical College and Research Centre
The Department of Community Medicine, K.J.Somaiya Medical College and Research Centre in collaboration with Maina Foundation started the breast cancer awareness and screening programme in 2014. The project started as a community based project in the urban slum area of Pratikshanagar, Mumbai and slowly expanded to other urban pockets of Mumbai and rural areas of Lodhivali and Angaon.The project focuses on creating awareness amongst the women with an aim of motivating the women to undergo clinical breast examination every year.
Even though we conduct several activities throughout the year, the month of October is special as it is observed as “Breast cancer awareness month”. During this month a host of events are conducted in both urban and rural areas. Awareness sessions and screening camps for breast cancer were conducted in the rural and urban field practice area of K.J.Somaiya Medical College. The rural field practice area is located at Angaon, in the Bhiwandi taluka of Thane district in Maharashtra at a distance of 50 kms from the medical college while the urban field practice area is located at Vidyavihar and Pratikshanagar in the city of Mumbai. A total of 619 women were made aware of breast cancer either in group sessions or one to one health education sessions. 110 women underwent clinical breast examination and 17 women also had a mammography done.
A highlight of this year’s event was a ‘Breast cancer awareness rally’ conducted at Angaon on 12th October. Participants included the Somaiya team, the PHC, Angaon team and the ICDS team comprising Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers. The ‘pink’ rally traversed Angaon village shouting slogans and bearing banners , sashes with slogans, and placards with breast cancer related messages.