“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
Benefits
Benefits for the women who attended the screening campaigns included:
1) Breast Clinical Examination (BCE) conducted by doctors for any abnormalities of the breasts such as ulcers, swellings, abnormal nipple discharge and pain.
2) Participants were taught to perform a Breast Self Examination (BSE) by themselves on a monthly basis. Women are advised to conduct BSE once a month preferably 3-5 days after their menstrual period and for those who are post menopause they need to choose one fixed date each month for BSE.
3) During breast self examination women were advised to identify abnormal features on their breasts such as swellings, changes on the skin of their breasts, nipple discharge if any, and in case they see any of the above mentioned signs they were advised to report to the nearest health facility the soonest.
4) For women above 40 years it was recommended apart from BSE and BCE they could also benefit from a screening mammography yearly or biannual (in places where it is available in Tanzania).
