November 10, 2020

“Early Detection Saves Lives”; Bethel Samson, Founder of Etege Apps

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The Breast Cancer Awareness Month, commemorated in countries across the world every October, helps…

Avatar: Zemen Mekonnen
By Zemen Mekonnen

Zemen Mekonnen is a Content Creater at Addis Zeybe. She is a graduate from Addis Abeba University School of Law and Governance.

The Breast Cancer Awareness Month, commemorated in countries across the world every October, helps to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection, treatment as well as palliative care of the disease. Breast cancer is by far the most common cancer in women worldwide, both in the developed and developing countries. In low- and middle-income countries the incidence has been rising steadily in the last years due to an increase in life expectancy and increased urbanization. Globally there is not sufficient knowledge on the cause of therefore, early detection of the disease remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. 

In Ethiopia, breast cancer is by far the most common cancer accounting for more than one out of three cancer cases in women and one out of every five in the general population. According to research by the Journal of Cancer Prevention, the most prevalent cancer in Ethiopia among the adult population is breast cancer accounting for close to 30.2% of cancer cases. The societal awareness and knowledge of danger signs and risk factors of breast cancer are very low. One of the major causes of high breast cancer deaths is lack of awareness and screening which then results in the advancement of cancer. 

To the fifth year medical student and founder of Etege - an android application designed to assist Ethiopian women with early screening - Bethel Samson this is a pressing matter that requires attention. “"Early detection saves lives. It's very important to have regular screening so as to pick the Cancer early and have a much better outcome of medical treatment" said Bethel stressing the importance of early detection to reduce the number of people that lose their lives because of the disease. 

Explaining to Addis Zeybe the components of the application she created Bethel said "The ETEGE application is an Amharic guide to self-breast examination that was made to educate Ethiopian women on how to perform a self-breast examination and raise awareness about Breast cancer and early screening methods to the general population."  The platform is a free healthcare app that uses an animated figure to visually instruct women on how to perform preliminary assessments on their bodies to observe probable signs of early-stage breast cancer. The animation is also complemented with an Amharic narration and together explain a detailed step by step walkthrough of where and how to search for signs. 

Infrastructural as well as technical resources are lacking in dealing with breast cancer in Ethiopia according to Bethel. Adequate and affordable medical care and facilities are impediments widely experienced. This is what inspired Bethel to start the application. "The idea to make the app originated while working on a project called DOUBLE IMPACT under the Ethiopian Medical Students Association. We were teaching about early screening methods for Breast and Cervical cancer and I noticed that there were no available comprehensive educational materials in our local languages and wanted to change that." says Bethel remembering the time she had the idea to create the application.

Studies show that the majority of breast cancer deaths occur in low and middle income countries, where most women with breast cancer are diagnosed in late stages due mainly to lack of awareness on early detection and barriers to health services. Diagnostic delays of 3-6 months are associated with advanced stage breast cancer and lower rates of survival. Bethel states "Most patients come at the later stages of the disease where the rates of survival are very low."  She believes the Etege app will be a crucial tool in the fight against breast cancer, as it will enable patients to perform self-examination at home, detect the early-stage symptoms of breast cancers and seek immediate medical attention, thereby increasing the chance of successful treatment. 

In Ethiopia, key barriers, such as shortages of trained workers and large distances between treatment facilities, hinder access to treatment. Putting this hindrance under consideration along with the importance of early detection in the treatment of breast cancer, the society's awareness level must be increased using different methods, according to Bethel. According to the experience of different nations, continuous community-based training is one effective means of increasing awareness. Bethel further states "The public awareness about breast cancer screening and treatment is something that needs work. The subject needs to be given attention as breast cancer is the most common cancer in Ethiopia and it causes the preventable death of women in the country."  

Finally Addis Zeybe asked what the next step for the initiative was to which Bethel replied “The next step is making the platform accessible to other members of the community in terms of developing an IOS application as well as adding more language features to maximize the awareness and increase early detection norms in Ethiopia.” The application is currently only available on android with instructions limited to one language. However, work is underway to add features to the application in the coming times as well as creating an IOS version so that Apple users can access the application as well.