Blind Women Detect Breast Cancer
- inquiries800
- Oct 14, 2024
- 1 min read
Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women in India, and a new initiative is helping to spread awareness about preventative medicine and early detection. Breast examinations are highly stigmatized in the region, leading many women to miss early signs of cancer. A project run by Discovering Hands is training blind women to conduct breast exams as Medical Tactile Examiners. Relying on their heightened sense of touch, the visually impaired women identify breast abnormalities by applying varied levels of pressure to the chest. Non-visually impaired doctors can find tumors as small as 1 cm with a physical examination, but Medical Tactical Examiners are able to find tumors as small as 6 mm. The project not only shares important health information with women, but also provides blind women with income and a new sense of purpose. Discovering Hands has trained 35 MTEs in India so far, who have screened 6,000 women in pop-up community health centers and saved countless lives through early detection.
Image via Positive News
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