MEDIA outlets such as The Fiji Times are very effective tools in getting breast cancer awareness messages across to the wider community, says Friends of Western Cancer member Milika Wata-Marshall.

“I know of many incidents where women have read about breast cancer self-examinations in the print media but one in particular stood out because it shows the challenges that still face our community,” she shared.

“A young woman read about self-examination in The Fiji Times’ Kaila! liftout and performed a self-exam and found a lump.

“However, it took her a year to pluck up the courage to present herself to the hospital to get checked.

“This is an issue that we are trying to address by going out to women in urban and rural communities and talking to them and encouraging them to get over the fear and stigma associated with breast cancer.”

Mrs Wata-Marshall said another issue her organisation faced was the reliance on traditional or herbal medicine by women across the Western Division.

“When these herbal medicines don’t work, women present themselves to the hospital, often when they are in the advanced stages of breast cancer and this is something that we try to stress to them — go to the hospital first.”

Friends of Western Cancer held two successful awareness events in the West recently — a dinner at the Vide Restaurant in Nadi and a morning tea at the Northern Club in Lautoka as part of Pinktober breast cancer awareness month.