Muslim women need greater breast-cancer awareness. FIU’s ‘mammovan’ is helping

By Seema Azim Al-Shaikhli

A breast cancer diagnosis does not have to be a death warrant. Early detection is the key to saving lives. Mammography is the easiest and most important screening test for breast cancer. But many minority women forego regular screenings.

I saw this disparity as a volunteer at a Muslim women’s community organization. Delayed screening is a common denominator in many cases because of cultural factors and inaccurate beliefs about breast cancer. This is not unique to my local Muslim community. Studies show that American Muslim women, in general, are less likely to get regular mammograms.

A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray of the breasts. It can help detect cancer years before a woman or her doctor might be able to actually feel a lump. Yet, data shows more than a third of eligible women did not have a mammogram within the past two years. Reasons vary from lack of understanding about the importance of regular screening to fear of the procedure to lack of insurance. Not surprisingly, Muslim and other minority women have disproportionately lower mammography rates.

As a medical student and first-generation Afghan-Indian Muslim-American woman, I felt compelled to address this disparity and found an ally in my medical school. The Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine runs a mobile center that offers free mammograms to uninsured women in Miami-Dade County. The service is supported by the Braman Family and The Batchelor foundations with the goal of “driving out breast cancer from our community.”

In Islamic history, mosques and medical institutions commonly were adjacent to one another. This inspired my idea of bringing the school’s mobile mammography center to a local mosque to create a sense of acceptability and comfort for Muslim women while highlighting the importance of health, a foundation of our faith.