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Breast Health

What We Do › Breast Health


“Early identification of breast cancer significantly increases a patient's chance of survival, so in my line of work nothing can beat the satisfaction of a job well done. When I detect the earliest signs of the disease, I know that I have given the woman-who is always someone's mother or daughter, sister or wife-a chance to fight it,”

Christiana Ciortea, senior radiologist at Cluj District University Hospital, Cluj, Romania, and a participant in AIHA’s Radiology Quality Assurance Program

In most countries spanning Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a breast cancer diagnosis traditionally carried with it great stigma and shame. Many of the screening tests and treatments taken for granted in the Western world were until recently unavailable and most people felt it was better not to know anyway because they viewed cancer as a virtual death sentence.

Breast cancer was, and remains, a leading cause of death among women in a number of these countries. In Ukraine, for example, reported cases of breast cancer have risen some 70 percent over the past two decades—a grim statistic that is repeated in many other countries spanning the former Soviet Union. With little education about early detection or access to reliable mammography equipment, diagnosis for the majority of women afflicted with breast cancer often comes too late—especially for women living in rural areas.

AIHA's efforts to improve the scope and availability of high-quality breast cancer prevention, screening, and treatment services through specific programmatic activities began in the mid-1990s and included a number of system-strengthening initiatives. These were funded primarily through various cooperative agreements with USAID and were discontinued as a result of shifting development priorities and consequent lack of funding.


Some key accomplishments achieved by AIHA and its partners working to improve breast health services in the region include:


Projects

AIHA's efforts to improve the scope and availability of high-quality breast cancer prevention, screening, and treatment services through specific programmatic activities include:

Women's Wellness Centers and Primary Healthcare Centers

AIHA partners have established more than 70 Women’s Wellness Centers and Primary Healthcare Centers in communitites throughout Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These innovative centers represent a new, integrated model of health service delivery in the region. They feature a client-centered approach and provide a full range of reproductive health, primary care, and selected specialty care services, including breast cancer education, prevention, early detection, and treatment or referral to an appropriate tertiary care facility.

Opened by and large between 1997-2004, each Women's Wellness Center and Primary Healthcare Center was designed to include a breast health component that focuses on patient education and awareness; early detection and screening; practitioner training, including provision of breast models and other materials; clinical breast exams and education about self examination; provision of equipment and supplies in some cases; patient, survivor, and family support; and outreach activities such as health fairs, walks, TV and/or radio spots, other public events.

These programs greatly improved rates of early detection (stage 1, stage 2) thus improving patient outcomes—a legacy which lasts to this day. Most were funded by USAID through AIHA's cooperative agreements for the healthcare partnership programs and many WWCs were funded under the reproductive health earmark.


Ukraine Breast Health Program

A key component of AIHA’s women’s health model is educating patients so they are better able to take an active part in their own wellbeing. This is evident in AIHA’s Breast Health Program, which not only provides clinical exams, but also focuses on teaching the basics of self-examination and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices. Additionally, as part of the Breast Health Program, some Women’s Wellness Centers have been equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and offer both ultrasound and mammography screening to patients who are self- or physician-referred. Read more...

 

Yerevan (Armenia)/Washington (DC) Partnership

Funded between 2000-2004, AIHA's Yerevan/Washington partnership initially focused on breast cancer awareness, early diagnosis, treatment, and support before expanding its focus to include primary care services for both women and men. The partnership helped facilitate extensive renovations at the Armenian American Wellness Center (AAWC) in Yerevan and provided extensive clinical training for staff, resulting in greatly expanded services in breast cancer education and outreach, early diagnostics, treatment, and psycho-social support.

Partners opened a satellite Primary Healthcare Clinic in Gavar in the summer of 2003 and routinely conducted breast health and primary care medical missions to remote rural areas of Armenia using a mobile mammography van donated by a US hospital in Chicago. They also worked with Armenia’s Ministry of Health to have October officially designated as national breast cancer awareness month.


Extensive outreach and education activities conducted by the partners helped raise breast cancer awareness within the community through lectures, radio and television spots, print advertisements, health fairs and an annual breast cancer walk, and school- and business-based programs.


USAID funding for the partnership was just under $1 million with US partners leveraging significant donations of funding, equipment, and services—particularly from the Armenian Diaspora community—to maximize results. When the partnership closed out in 2004, AAWC had logged more than 64,000 patient visits and diagnosed some 2,500 cases of breast cancer. The center continues to be a leader in breast cancer treatment, support, and education in Armenia, as well as throughout the region. Read more...

 

Romania Radiology Quality Improvement Program

Over the past decade, breast cancer has emerged as one of the leading causes of death among women in Romania—partly because of low awareness about breast self-examinations and partly because the disease is often detected too late or remains undiagnosed altogether. AIHA’s Radiology Quality Assurance Program was designed to increase diagnostic capacity by enhancing mammography services, establishing monitoring and evaluation procedures, and improving quality standards to help ensure this potentially life-saving technology is used to its greatest advantage. Read more...


Central Asia Nursing and Breast Health Education Project

AIHA’s Healthy Communities program moves partners outside hospital walls and into the heart of the villages and cities they are seeking to serve. Participants work hand-in-hand with a host of community stakeholders to address diverse issues that adversely affect public health, including domestic violence. Read more...


Breast Health Information Resources

Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA's strategy for sustainable healthcare programs. For more information about breast health, please visit the following links:

» Country-specific Overview of AIHA Breast Health Projects in Eurasia (PDF)
» EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network
» Women's Wellness Center Toolkit
» Articles
» AIHA Success Stories


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