Iran's First Mobile Mammogram Clinic

An Iranian citizen journalist, who writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity, wrote the following article on the ground inside Iran.

A few days ago, I was walking down a city street and noticed a van with a sign on its side.  “Mobile mammography — reaching out to every woman,” it read in English. 

When I asked people in the van about it, they said that, with support from the Ministry of Health, they visit underprivileged areas and provide mammograms to women who cannot afford to pay for the examination.

It piqued my interest and I decided I wanted to know more about it, especially since some time ago a young woman whom we know was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is currently in the hospital and is going through chemotherapy.

I found out that this van was part of Iran’s first-ever mobile mammography clinic. It was inaugurated in June this year by the minister of health and medical education, Dr Hassan Hashemi in the Fereydoon Shahr area of Isfahan province. Hashemi said that breast cancer among women is on the rise, and to cope with the situation and bring down treatment costs, mobile mammography units will be sent out to underprivileged areas every three months.

Hashemi added that treating breast cancer in Iran currently costs the country more than a $100 million a year. Mobile mammography units can help by diagnosing breast cancer early before it spreads, and by using modern treatments to forestall its progress.

The mobile mammography initiative is part of a charity health foundation founded by Dr. Hashemi and a group of his colleagues before he was chosen to be the minister of health under President Rouhani’s administration. In addition to the mobile clinic, the foundation provides other medical and surgical services to underprivileged areas. In recent years, the majority of services offered have been mostly in the area of ophthalmology, which is Dr. Hashemi’s area of specialization. The foundation has been expanding its services, and the mobile mammography clinic is one of them.

To find out more about breast cancer, I studied available material and learned that, according to health officials and doctors who deal with breast cancer in the country, Iran has the highest rate of breast cancer per capita in the world. According to these sources, more than 60,000 Iranian women suffer from breast cancer; there are around 10,000 new cases every year.

Breast cancer is the most widespread cancer among Iranian women. For unknown reasons, the average age of developing breast cancer for Iranian women is 10 years lower than in developed countries. Doctors believe that early diagnosis is key in fighting the complications associated with the disease, and stalling its progress. They recommend that women, especially those between the ages 45 and 55, have a mammogram every 10 years. Unfortunately, few women do this, either because of neglect or because the service is unavailable or is beyond their means.

In addition to getting a mammogram — but not as a replacement for it — women can take certain steps. According to doctors and medical texts, warning signs include a lump in the breast, inflammation of breast tissue, a depression in the breast and blood discharge from the nipples.

Women more prone to breast cancer include women who have never been pregnant or have not breastfed a child, those who are overweight and obese, smokers, those who for whatever reason take female hormones, and women with a family history of breast cancer.

Firoozeh Kashani, Citizen journalist, Shiraz

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