For the last three weeks I have been working at Sambhali Trust in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Sambhali, which in Hindi means ‘strengthening the deprived’, is an NGO that works to empower women, children and gender minorities through livelihood development, education support, social welfare services, community wellbeing programmes, and healthcare promotion.

Sambhali Trust’s projects are based in three locations across Rajasthan: Jodhpur, Setrawa and Jaisalmer. They have eight empowerment centres, three boarding homes, and have worked with nearly 80,000 women since starting in 2007. The empowerment centres provide women unable to otherwise access schooling a formal education, as well as training in traditional income-generating skills such as sewing. Further information about Sambhali can be found here.

My intention is to initiate a project at Sambhali around breast self-examination (BSE). Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer among Indian women, with incidence rising and a mortality rate of over 90,000 annually. This is largely caused by late-stage of diagnosis – 70% of women in India are diagnosed at stage III or stage IV – which is due to limited screening programs, low awareness and health literacy, sociocultural barriers, and healthcare disparities. Given the low-cost, simple and practical nature of breast self-examination, I want to build it into the healthcare curriculum delivered at the empowerment centres.

At medical school, my learning about breast self-examination, both for myself and for patients, was enhanced through practicing on medical models that simulated various breast pathologies. I am therefore trying to raise £250 in order to provide Sambhali with a breast examination model. If you can possibly spare a few pennies, this may make the difference between early vs. late detection and therefore effective treatment.

Early detection saves lives!