About 1.5 million people cut sugarcane in India for around 400 rupees for a 14-hour day; with no leave even during menstruation, many women from Beed in Maharashtra have their wombs removed. A 2019 state survey found 13,861 hysterectomies among 82,309 women cane workers.
HealthHealth Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain Bokul said infrastructure, recruitment of doctors and midwives and training are being stepped up to bring breast cancer screening to the grassroots; about 63 per cent of women with the disease are never screened.
HealthThe government will repurpose money from a 2021 European Investment Bank Covid loan to reach about 47 million women and girls, with early detection of cervical and breast cancer and stronger district hospitals, it told partners in Berlin.
HealthOn Breast Cancer Awareness Day, specialists say breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Bangladeshi women, with about 12,764 new cases and 6,844 deaths a year according to IARC, and call for a national screening policy.
HealthAt a Power of She Trust event at a Mohammadpur school, doctors spoke to girls about menstrual health, PCOS, breast cancer and mental health, and the school received a sanitary pad bank.
HealthBreast surgeon Dr Sifat Tanzila writes that a lump is not always cancer and the absence of pain is no reassurance; a new lump, a change in shape or nipple changes call for a doctor without delay.
HealthSharmin Akter, an associate professor of plastic surgery at NITOR, writes that she left her own lump after a reassuring FNAC; cancer-free after seven months of treatment, she now insists on core biopsy and a tumour board.
HealthWHO figures show about 2.4 million women newly diagnosed with breast cancer worldwide in 2024 and about 700,000 deaths; caught early it can be cured, writes Dr Muhammad Mahtab Hossain Majed.
HealthPolycystic ovary syndrome carries long-term hormonal and metabolic risks beyond fertility, so care should combine gynaecology, endocrinology, nutrition and mental health and be affordable, specialists told a Samakal round table.
Nutritionist Raisa Mehjabin writes that hormonal changes across the cycle can alter some women's appetite, sleep, mood or exercise capacity, and that one rule for everyone is not scientific.
HealthA heart attack in a woman does not always bring severe chest pain; pressure in the chest, breathlessness, nausea, a cold sweat or pain in the jaw or back together call for urgent care.
HealthNutritionist Lina Akter advised women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to eat whole grains, vegetables and less sugar and to exercise; the WHO estimates 10 to 13 per cent of women of reproductive age have the condition.
The yellow mustard flowers that fill winter fields are also a nutritious food, rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
