October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a global initiative that aims to raise awareness about breast cancer and raise funds for breast cancer research. It's also about promoting the value of early detection and getting women to take actions that help catch breast cancer early.
In South Africa, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women. According to the National Cancer Registry, around 1 in 27 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Although survival rates improve dramatically the earlier it's caught, many women only see a doctor once symptoms are already advanced. Unfortunately, many women put off their mammogram, breast self-exams or even a conversation with their doctor about family history, either because of the busy pace of modern life, or because it's an uncomfortable topic to raise. But early detection is key, so in the spirit of this, here are five ways to be proactive about breast health, both this month and in the months and years to come.
Know your personal risk
Not every woman's risk profile for breast cancer looks the same. Age, family history, genetics and certain lifestyle factors all play a role in how likely you are to develop the disease, and understanding your particular risk can shape how seriously you take screening. Even though mammograms are generally recommended after a woman turns 40, younger women can also be diagnosed with it – so proactive awareness matters at every age. If a parent or sibling has had breast or ovarian cancer, it's worth raising this with your doctor. Discussing this, together with your personal history, can help determine whether you should be screening earlier or more often than general guidelines suggest.
Get familiar with your own body
The key principle of breast self-examination isn't to diagnose yourself – it's to notice when something has changed. Doing a monthly check, ideally a few days after your period when breasts are least tender, helps you build a baseline for what's normal for you. Look and feel for any new lumps, changes in size or shape, skin dimpling or unusual discharge. Most changes turn out to be benign, but catching something unusual early can make the biggest difference to the eventual outcome. Make your self-exam a habit rather than an occasional afterthought: set a recurring reminder on your phone, or remember to do it at a certain stage of your monthly cycle.
Don't skip your mammogram
While breast self-exams are useful, they can't replace clinical screenings such as mammograms, which can detect changes years before they'd ever be felt by hand. If you belong to a medical aid, breast screening may be part of your plan's benefits. Fedhealth's screening benefit, for example, covers members aged 40 and older for a mammogram every two years on all options excluding myFED, sureFED Essential and flexiFEDSavvy. Because this screening benefit is paid from Risk, it doesn't eat into your day-to-day savings, so there's no financial impact to getting one either.
Pay attention to the lifestyle factors you can influence
While some risk factors like age and your family's history with breast cancer are out of your hands, others aren't. Things like maintaining a healthy weight, limiting your alcohol intake, staying physically active and avoiding smoking have all been linked to a reduced risk of breast cancer and can all be done easily at any time. None of these guarantee complete protection from breast cancer on their own, but they can shift the odds in your favour. Living a healthy lifestyle also benefits your general health, well beyond reducing your risk of breast cancer alone.
Get support from those around you
Breast cancer awareness isn't just about the woman who's diagnosed – it's about the people around her too. Encourage the women in your life, whether it's your mother, sister, friend or colleague, to take breast cancer screening seriously, and don't let embarrassment or busy schedules become the reason a check-up gets pushed back another year. If you or someone close to you is diagnosed with breast cancer, life is affected far beyond physical health. It's also an emotional journey that can be difficult to deal with, so having a good support network, including counselling and patient support programmes, can be invaluable in helping make a very difficult time a little easier to navigate. A woman's community can also play a meaningful role here, whether it's close friends, family or colleagues coming together to offer added support.
Breast cancer awareness shouldn't be limited to just one month on the calendar, but this October is as good a time as any to start adopting some good proactive habits when it comes to your breast health. Book the mammogram you've been putting off, have the conversation with your family about history and risk, and make breast self-checks a normal part of your routine. Early detection remains one of the most powerful tools against breast cancer, and proactive habits are what make the biggest difference over time.
