Beyond breast cancer awareness in rural Sarawak, Malaysia - a documentary of outreach programs

Society for Cancer Advocacy and Awareness Kuching (SCAN) – Malaysia

As part of the Breast Cancer programme, this project was awarded a grant for early detection of breast cancer in October 2022.

Project objectives

The goal of this project was to raise breast cancer awareness and promote the early detection and screening of breast cancer in rural areas of Sarawak, Borneo, Malaysia that have limited access to medical information and where stigma is a major barrier for seeking treatment populations. The team documented these outreaches and used the material to develop a documentary to use as an advocacy tool

Project description

The team worked with the MoH to ensure a streamlined effort during the planning and phases of the project as well as the Sarawak Breast Cancer Support Group (SBCSG) to bring nurses and medical personnel on the outreach. The project team successfully visited four rural communities in the Borneo region and reached 169 women with screening and educational materials. Noting that many women in the region do not have access to information pertaining to the early detection of breast cancer, they utilised the Know Your Lemons leaflets in the communities to disseminate reliable information.

Following the outreach, the team produced a documentary to serve as a powerful advocacy tool, aiming to raise awareness for more outreach in the region.