In 2025, World Aid Network's mobile breast cancer screening programme delivered 3,247 mammograms and clinical breast examinations across field sites in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. For many of the women screened, it was the first time they had ever been examined for breast cancer. For some, it was the intervention that will save their life.
Why mobile screening matters in South Asia
Breast cancer survival in South Asia lags far behind the UK. In England, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer exceeds 85 per cent. In Pakistan it is estimated at around 40 per cent; in Bangladesh it may be lower still. The primary reason is late diagnosis — the great majority of cases in these countries are detected at Stage III or Stage IV, when treatment is difficult and survival rates fall sharply.
The barriers are structural. There is no organised national mammography programme in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Outside major urban centres, imaging equipment is either unavailable or unaffordable. Cultural barriers — a reluctance to discuss breast symptoms with male doctors, fear of stigma, and a widespread belief that breast changes are not serious until they cause severe pain — compound the access problem. Women in rural areas may travel several hours to reach any healthcare facility at all.
Mobile units remove the biggest barrier: distance. By bringing equipment to community health centres, mosques, women's cooperatives and rural clinics, the programme reaches women who would not otherwise seek care — or who would not know that a free examination was available to them.
What 3,247 screenings means in practice
Of the 3,247 women screened in 2025, 218 were referred for follow-up investigation on the basis of their examination or imaging results. Of those referred, 41 were subsequently confirmed with a malignancy — the large majority at Stage I or Stage II. Without the screening programme, the same cancers would most likely have been found at Stage III or IV, with a substantially lower survival probability.
Each screening costs on average £27 to deliver in the field — covering the equipment, the clinical staff time, referral coordination and transport subsidy for follow-up appointments. Every £27 donated represents one woman examined, and one chance for a cancer to be found at a stage when it is still treatable.
What is planned for 2026
In 2026, World Aid Network has set a target of 5,000 screenings across expanded field sites in rural Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan), Sylhet Division (Bangladesh), and a new pilot in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Funding raised during Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2025 has enabled the addition of a second mobile unit in Pakistan — reducing the waiting time for remote communities from months to weeks.
How to support the programme
Donations to World Aid Network's breast cancer programme are directed entirely to the field programme. A donation of £27 funds one screening. £135 funds a full five-woman screening session at a community site. £540 funds a full day of community screening at a rural health centre, including equipment deployment, clinical staff and referral coordination. You can donate at breastcancer-charity.org/donate.
