“Sustainability of any association rests on the number of its members; if the association has no adequate number of members it will be hard for the association to have resources. But also even if the association has a lot money with no members, it many not move either. I commend the efforts reached by MEWATA so far and I believe that many more can be done but it takes a busy woman to do it…………….” Prof. Esther Mwaikambo
Breast Cancer campaigns
In commemoration of the International Women’s Day (IWD) and Tenth Anniversary of Beijing Declaration, MEWATA revived breast cancer awareness and screening campaign for women, such that three areas have also been covered:
1) Dar es Salaam region in March 2005 2) Mwanza region in September 2005. 3) Mbeya region in November 2006
The programme is structured in three main phases:
1) Phase 1 – Mass Screening of women 2) Phase 2 – Special Clinics – Clinical Investigations and Diagnosis 3) Phase 3 – Treatment (Surgical and Chemotherapy/Hormonal therapy and Radiation therapy)
The programme was mainly implemented by Tanzanian women medical doctors and dental practitioners who are members of the association. Other health professionals that included nurses and male medical doctors were also incorporated in the team. Close partnership of MEWATA and a private media company ITV/Radio-One made the mass media campaign quite successful.
