The government is moving to introduce breast cancer screening at the grassroots, and is improving health infrastructure, recruiting new doctors and midwives and stepping up training for the purpose, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bokul said.
Speaking as chief guest at a discussion marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2026 at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka on Sunday, he said breast cancer is becoming more common in Bangladesh and women in villages as well as cities are affected. Lack of awareness and delays in seeking treatment mean that many cases are found late.
Meetings, seminars and television campaigns alone cannot create real awareness, the minister said. He asked doctors to go back to their home villages for at least two or three days a year and teach local women the early signs of breast cancer and how to stay breast-aware.
Dr SM Ziauddin Hyder, the prime minister's special assistant on health, said non-communicable diseases now account for about 71 to 73 per cent of all deaths in the country. Breast cancer is diagnosed in 15 of every 100,000 women, and about 63 per cent of women with the disease never come under any screening, so it is often found late and treatment becomes harder.
He stressed expanding screening along with raising public awareness, and said prevention, early detection and timely treatment are essential in tackling heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
The discussion was chaired by the institute's director, Professor Dr Nasir Uddin. Dhaka Medical College Hospital director Brigadier General AKM Farhad Hossain and others from the health sector attended.
Photo: Tech. Sgt. Raymond Mills / Wikimedia Commons (public domain); reviewing mammogram results, for illustration
Source: Samakal
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