The LWF Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem marks breast cancer awareness month. An emphasis is put on community outreach activities.
The mobile mammography screening unit, the “Pink Bus”, at Singel village in Ramallah on 3rd October 2022. The bus offers free screenings to women in Palestine and the West Bank. Photo: AVH
Augusta-Victoria-Hospital raises awareness for breast cancer
(LWI) - Pink light draws attention to a widespread disease. The Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem marks “Pink October”, a month dedicated to breast cancer awareness. The hospital, run by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), specializes in oncology treatment for Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. One in eight women worldwide is diagnosed with breast cancer during her lifetime. For women in Palestine, breast cancer is still the most common cause of cancer-related death.
Prevention through community outreach
“There are several reasons, why women in Palestine are commonly diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease,” says LWF Country Representative Sieglinde Weinbrenner. “For one, there is no established national screening program for breast cancer. Maybe women are also more reluctant to get screened because for fear of the disease”.
Over the past two decades, AVH has established a community outreach program with a mobile breast cancer and diabetes screening unit. The “Pink bus” moves mainly in marginalized areas throughout in the West Bank and offers free mammography screenings, awareness sessions and self-exam workshops to women. In 2020, the bus was outfitted with new, state-of-the art digital equipment.
8,000 women benefit from the service every year. About 1,000 abnormalities are discovered. A nurse follows up with each patient. In 2020, twenty women started treatment for breast cancer that was discovered in early stages through the mobile unit. The screening campaigns also continued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Awareness raising with local partners
Augusta-Victoria-Hospital plans several activities, both to support women in treatment and to raise awareness. Much of this is done together with local partners, like the Palestinian cell phone company Jawwal, which will send a message to 3 million users, or the chain Rio café in Ramallah, which will put stickers on their coffee cups.
There will be dedicated activities, like fundraising for the mobile mammography clinic, events in the vocational training centers and at Birzeit university, and a Hope Kit that will include a number of gifts from a variety of local institutions in the community that will be given to survivors.
Rio Café, a popular coffee chain in Ramallah, is selling their brew in cups with a message on breast cancer this month. Photo: LWF/AVH
This year, for the first time, AVH will also conduct Pink October activities in Gaza. On October 20th, patients of Arab Ahli Hospital and hospital staff will participate in stress relief, yoga, and meditation on Bianco Beach. Similar activities are taking place in Jaffa at the same time. The event will be live-streamed on the AVH facebook page.
The AVH “Pink October”-campaign was launched officially on 2nd October in the Palestinian Museum Ramallah, together with the Mariam foundation.
