PATH's Partnership With the Pfizer Foundation, the Peruvian Government and Local Cancer Organizations Bring Early Breast Cancer Detection Services to Women

PATH's Partnership With the Pfizer Foundation, the Peruvian Government and Local Cancer Organizations Bring Early Breast Cancer Detection Services to Women

The global health organization PATH has pioneered a community-based model of care for breast cancer detection that builds on local resources and is appropriate to settings where mammography is not feasible.

In wealthy countries, breast cancer deaths have declined since 2000. But in low- and middle-income countries, the incidence of breast cancer is rising and standard detection tools like mammography are mostly unavailable.

Peru has nearly 4,000 cases of and more than 1,200 deaths from breast cancer annually. More than 75 percent of women with breast cancer are diagnosed in late stages, when treatment is more expensive and less effective. For many women in Peru, a breast cancer diagnosis is seen as a death sentence.

With support from the Pfizer Foundation, PATH developed a community-based model to train volunteers and providers how to detect, diagnose and treat breast cancer early. As the model takes hold in Peru, PATH is hoping to adapt it for different cultural settings, starting with Uganda.

The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.