A global survey reported that among 15 Asian countries, the Philippines has the highest breast cancer mortality rate and the lowest mortality-to-incidence ratio. Studies have described socioeconomic factors as one of the major causes for the lack of access to early detection and treatment.
In response to this gap in the delivery of services to promote early cancer detection and in line with the Breast Health Global Initiative’s call for low and middle income countries to adopt breast cancer screening to the local context, the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital Cancer Institute (UP-PGH CI) established the Mobile Breast Cancer Diagnostic Clinic Program, a first in the country -two pink vans that are fully equipped to reach far flung areas and provide breast cancer screening strategies are sent out to deliver services.
In the first 6 months of the program’s existence, the pink vans were able to visit 3 strategically identified areas in the country. These three tours served a total of 189 women who all underwent mammography. Of these women, 18 had their suspicious lesions biopsied. Two-thirds of which were found to be malignant. These patients were then advised to follow-up at our institute for further work-up and management.
As the Philippine health department continues to emphasize clinical and self-breast exam as part of its breast cancer control program, efforts like the UP-PGH “Pink Vans” may eventually help supplement the gap in the country’s breast cancer screening endeavors.
The authors.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.