Breast cancer awareness
In order to increase awareness of breast cancer among women and the general public, WHAE designated April 2022 as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and a total of 532 women have been reached during the campaign. Local unit women received self-examination instruction and breast cancer education from medical professionals. In Harar, the women also received free cervical cancer screening. Breast cancer awareness was also the focus of WHAE's annual meeting, which took place on November 12, 2022, at the Inter-Luxury Hotel. Two medical professionals were invited to speak on the topic of breast cancer data and advocacy in Ethiopia. One of the speakers, Dr. Tewodros Yalew, Pathologist, presented data on breast cancer in Ethiopia using power point. Dr. Tewodros stated that there is a lack of thorough data in the country and that the data that is available does not adequately reflect actual instances. However, there are typically 16,000 cases per year, he added. He also discussed the difficulties in identifying and treating the disease as well as the causes, risk factors and treatments available for breast cancer in the country. He stated that breast cancer strikes younger women (those between the ages of 30 and 40) as opposed to Western countries.
The following speaker, Ato Solomon Wolde Amanuel, an expert in public health, gave a power point presentation on breast cancer advocacy. Ato Solomon spoke about advocacy strategies such as submitting letters to government agencies to promote awareness and bring about change. He also discussed breast cancer in Ethiopia, including its causes, risk factors, and treatments. Close to seven thousand (7300) and three hundred people participated in a health campaign in November 2022 that Chancho and Debre Berhan local units created to raise awareness of breast cancer. The campaigns used t-shirts with messages, posters in market places where people congregated, and videos with skits about the disease. In June 2023, Jimma, Harar, Wolkite conducted cervical cancer awareness campaigns educating hundreds of people in their respected communities.
