Women's Health- Cancer Screening

UPDATE: The womens health brochure is now available in both English and Gujurati! If you have a function where you would like to distrubute this information and help AAPI in raising awareness of womens' health issues, please contact the service chair to recieve copies.

According the World Health Organization, cervical cancer today remains the leading cause of cancer death in India, directly responsible for the mortality of over 600,000 women. In the US, ovarian cancer is the leading cause of female cancer death with sadly 40,000 deaths each year. These compelling numbers should serve as a catalyst to increase awareness and education among women-at-large and particularly women of South Asian descent.

Part of AAPI’s this year’s 2006-2007 National Service Project is to create educational materials regarding the need for appropriate screenings for the largest gynecologic malignancies: breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer. With an emphasis on screenings to prevent cancer, other topics will include presenting signs, diagnosis and treatments options . The focus of our efforts is a pamphlet geared towards low-income women that will be widely distributed in both India and the US.

With the help of local state chapters, we would like to organize events throughout the year such as:
1) Women’ Health Fairs- a community-wide day to educate on the importance of screenings, to perform screenings, create awareness of local resources and services
2) Mobile Mammogram Vans- free mammography screenings. The purpose of these vans is to break down the barriers to breast cancer screening that result in many underserved women losing their lives to breast cancer due to advanced disease at diagnosis. Early detection of breast cancer saves lives. Community "partners" like schools, churches or community centers give us unique access to underserved women.
3) Teen Clinics- opportunities to counsel teenagers on pregnancy prevention, contraception, pregnant and parenting teens, physical exams, STD education, alcohol, drug and mental health services, and healthy relationships.
4) Educational Pamphlet- Creation of educational materials regarding the need for appropriate screenings for the largest gynecologic malignancies: breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer. With an emphasis on screenings to prevent cancer, other topics will include presenting signs, diagnosis and treatments options . The focus of our efforts is a pamphlet geared towards low-income women that will be widely distributed in both India and the US.

For more information on how to get involved, please contact the Project Coordinator, Deepti Gupta, at dgupta@students.mcg.edu.