Sustainable community navigation for early breast cancer diagnosis among disadvantaged urban communities in Selangor, Malaysia

Project objectives  ​

This project targeted the minority Mandarin-speaking population of Selangor and aimed to increase the knowledge of healthcare workers on breast cancer screening, symptoms and health system navigation training to reach the community. Additionally, through awareness campaigns, the project sought to increase the knowledge of the local community with breast health awareness and information. 

Project description​

The project team leveraged key collaborations with government agencies, the Ministry of Health, and local CSOs to increase capacity in the community for health system navigation and health promotion. Through three key project activities: 1) translation of awareness materials and patient navigation modules from Malay to English and Mandarin; 2) conducting a training programme to educate healthcare workers on breast cancer navigation; 3) and an awareness campaign in the community, the team made significant progress in reaching this ambitious target.

After translating the materials, the team trained a total of 123 healthcare workers on three key subject areas, breast cancer symptom detection, breast cancer screening, and navigation of patients to receive definitive diagnosis. During the project period, 5,273 women were screened with Clinical Breast Examination (CBE), 197 women were referred to receive definitive diagnosis, and 32 women were subsequently navigated to treatment. 

Multilingual and multicultural educational materials are essential to reach the diverse ethnic groups in Malaysia for more inclusive health promotion and during the awareness-raising activities of this project, 10,500 people were reached by community events and with educational resources explaining breast abnormalities. 

Key numbers