Assessment Tools
In collaboration with partner countries or centers of excellence, we support baseline assessments and situation analyses using our custom self-assessment tools, Global Breast Health Analytics Map (GloBAM), stakeholder mapping, focus groups and other methods as appropriate.
Tanzania Breast Health Care Assessment 2017
A report carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Brazil Breast Healthcare Assessment 2018
A report produced by the Breast Health Global Initiative for Susan G. Komen in support of the Breast Cancer Initiative 2.5 campaign.
Assessment Questionnaires
Primary Level Facilities Breast Health Care Assessment Questionnaire (English)
Breast Health Care Assessment Questionnaire (English)
Breast Health Care Assessment of Patient Perspectives Questionnaire (English)
We develop questionnaires for use in our situation analyses of breast health care systems. Please contact us for more information on the questionnaires we have available, and for details on their use.
Knowledge Summaries for Comprehensive Breast Cancer Control
The Knowledge Summary Toolkit is designed to address foundational questions and answers in comprehensive breast cancer care across the life-course in limited resource settings.
This series is a collaborative effort by Benjamin O. Anderson (BHGI), Allison Dvaladze (University of Washington), Andre Ilbawi (UICC Fellow), Silvana Luciani (PAHO), Julie Torode, (UICC) and Jo Anne Zujewski (NCI). Cover photographs generously contributed by Carolyn Taylor and include photos from the Facing Life photo project.
Planning: Comprehensive Breast Cancer Programs: A Call to Action
Breast cancer control is most successful when prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and palliation are integrated and synchronously developed. Comprehensive breast cancer care requires an effective health system with trained community health care personnel, including physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers and other specialized professionals. This summary covers planning for breast cancer programs and introduces the concepts of knowledge summaries and resource-stratified pathways.
Planning: Improving Access to Breast Cancer Care
Improving access to care and reducing disparities in outcomes requires identifying, understanding and addressing numerous barriers across the cancer care continuum. Barriers differ by location and population, but can generally be characterized as structural, sociocultural, personal and financial. Reducing barriers to cancer care services can improve patient outcomes, provided appropriate diagnostic and treatment facilities are available, accessible and acceptable. This summary discusses how to improve equitable access to breast cancer care by reducing barriers to breast health services.
Prevention: Breast Cancer Risk Factors and Risk Reduction
Preventive services are often a lower priority in the spectrum of cancer care and thus receive less funding and attention. However, reducing the incidence of breast cancer can affect quality of life for women as well as reduce health care expenditures. This summary covers preventive approaches including prophylactic medications, prophylactic surgery and lifestyle modifications for breast cancer prevention as well as health professional training and individual risk assessments.
Early Detection: Breast Health Awareness and Clinical Breast Exam
Early diagnosis of breast cancer begins with the establishment of programs to improve early detection of symptomatic women. Early recognition of symptoms and accurate diagnosis of breast cancer can result in cancers being diagnosed at earlier stages when treatment is more feasible, affordable and effective. This requires that health systems have trained frontline personnel who are able to recognize the signs and symptoms of breast abnormalities, perform clinical breast exam and know the proper referral protocol when diagnostic workup is warranted.
Early Detection: Screening Mammography Programs
The goal of early detection is to increase the chances of successful treatment by detecting the disease at an early stage, when the available treatments are more effective. This summary discusses how mammography can play an important role in breast cancer control programs when the incidence of breast cancer in the target population is high and resources for providing an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are universally available and accessible in a timely manner.
Diagnosis: Clinical Assessment, Diagnostic Imaging and Staging
Diagnosis requires an efficient referral process and timely coordination of services that include: 1) initial presentation for evaluation of a breast complaint; 2) imaging studies; 3) biopsy of suspicious lesions; 4) pathology (histology/cytology) studies and 5) return visit to review the results of diagnostic studies and to discuss a treatment plan. A lack of coordination of care and poor patient access to care can cause delays in definitive diagnosis and initiation of treatment, with the potential to negatively influence outcomes.
Diagnosis: Breast Cancer Biopsy, Pathology and Subtypes
The success of an effective breast health care program is directly related to the availability and quality of breast pathology. Accurate tissue diagnosis is the cornerstone of cancer therapy. All women with a suspected breast mass require an accurate pathologic diagnosis before initiating treatment, even when the clinical findings are strongly suggestive of cancer. This summary expands upon breast cancer biopsy, pathology and subtypes.
Treatment: Locoregional Therapy: Surgery for Breast Cancer
Surgical care is one of the primary treatment modalities for locoregional breast cancer; radiotherapy and systemic therapy are the other primary modalities. Surgical care for breast cancer requires expert surgical training and coordination of care. The type of surgery will depend on the disease stage, tumor characteristics, patient preferences and resources available for neoadjuvant (preoperative) and adjuvant (postoperative) treatments. This summary covers surgery as a treatment option for breast cancer.
Treatment: Locoregional Therapy: Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer
Radiotherapy is an essential component of the multimodality treatment of breast cancer. Estimates suggest that 60% of all breast cancer patients in the United States would benefit from at least one course of radiotherapy for either curative, definitive treatment or palliation. In LMICs, where most women present with locally advanced breast cancer, the percentage of women who would benefit from radiotherapy is even greater, yet the gap between the demand and available supply continues to grow.
Treatment: Systemic Therapy: Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer
This summary is one of two Systemic Therapy Knowledge Summaries. It covers chemotherapy, which plays a central role in the treatment of breast cancer for the majority of patients at all resource levels. Chemotherapy improves survival, reduces recurrence and has the capacity to improve candidacy for definitive surgery or for breast conservation when used before surgery. It can also be used to palliate painful symptoms of advanced disease.
Treatment: Systemic Therapy: Hormonal Therapy and Targeted Agents
This summary is one of two Systemic Therapy Knowledge Summaries. It covers hormonal therapy and targeted agents. Targeted therapies have transformed the way cancer is understood and treated, and allow personalization of treatment according to each individual’s tumor characteristics. Targeted cancer therapies are drugs or other substances that block the growth of cancer by interfering with specific molecules (molecular targets or receptors) that are involved in the growth, progression and spread of cancer.
Palliative Care: Palliative Care During Treatment for Breast Cancer
Breast cancer patients require palliative care for the prevention and management of physical as well as psychosocial adverse effects of cancer and its treatments. Emphasis on quality of life is a primary goal of care when considering treatment options and managing treatment-related complications. In low-resource settings, the capacity to manage side effects and toxicities should be a factor in the selection of treatment options for breast cancer. Patient education and counseling are part of treatment planning and should include information about potential treatment-related side effects.
Palliative Care: Palliative Care for Metastatic Breast Cancer
A large percentage of women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) who develop breast cancer present with advanced (metastatic) disease. In the majority of these cases, treatment with curative intent is not possible. The survival of patients after a diagnosis of metastatic cancer depends on tumor characteristics and available therapies, but ranges from several months to several years, therefore palliative care represents a substantial contribution to breast cancer programs. This summary expands upon palliative care for metastatic breast cancer.
Survivorship Care: Survivorship Care after Curative Treatment for Breast Cancer
Breast cancer survivors are patients who have entered the post-treatment phase after the successful completion of breast cancer therapy with curative intent; longer-term endocrine therapy and/or targeted therapy may continue during survivorship care. Globally, breast cancer survival rates are increasing, creating a new generation of survivors in need of ongoing care and counseling. Evidence suggests that a significant number of people with a cancer diagnosis have unmet informational, psychosocial and physical needs which can be effectively addressed through survivorship care interventions.
Planificación: De Programas Integrales Contra el Cáncer de Mama: un llamado a la Acción
El presente resumen abarca la planificación de los programas contra el cáncer de mama, incluida la planificación a largo plazo. Ofrece una introducción a dos conceptos importantes, a saber, los resúmenes de conocimientos y las vías estratificadas según los recursos.
Planificación: Cómo Mejorar el Acceso a la Atención Para el Cáncer de Mama
El presente resumen explora cómo mejorar el acceso equitativo a la atención del cáncer de mama, al reducir las barreras para los servicios de salud de la mama. Abarca las barreras estructurales, socioculturales, personales y financieras para obtener acceso a la detección, el tratamiento y los cuidados de apoyo para el cáncer de mama.
Prevenicón: Factores de Riesgo y Prevenicón del Cáncer de Mama
El presente resumen abarca la estrategia de prevención para controlar el cáncer de mama e incluye los medicamentos quimioprofilácticos, la cirugía profiláctica y las modificaciones del modo de vida para prevenir el cáncer de mama. También se aborda la capacitación de los profesionales de la salud, la evaluación del riesgo individual y la orientación.
Detección Temprana: Concientización Sobre la Salud Mamaria y Exploración Clínica de las Mamas
El presente resumen abarca las principales estrategias de detección temprana del cáncer, incluidas la educación y concientización sobre el cáncer de mama (educación de las pacientes, la comunidad y los profesionales de la salud), la concientización sobre la salud mamaria, la autoexploración mamaria y la exploración clínica de las mamas (ECM). En el resumen de conocimientos Diagnóstico temprano: signos y síntomas se describe cómo realizar la ECM; y en el resumen Detección temprana: modalidades de formación de imágenes se presenta un análisis del tamizaje mamográfico del cáncer de mama.
Detección Temprana: Fisiología de la Mama y Exploración Clínica de las Mamas
El presente resumen se centra en los aspectos clínicos de la detección temprana del cáncer de mama. Los temas que aborda incluyen los signos y síntomas de las anormalidades de la mama, la importancia de realizar una minuciosa exploración clínica de las mamas (ECM) como parte de la concientización sobre la salud mamaria y el diagnóstico temprano, la necesidad de un seguimiento apropiado y oportuno, estudios de imaginología y pruebas de anatomía patológica en caso de resultados sospechosos. Los detalles acerca de la concientización sobre la salud mamaria y los programas de imaginología se abordan en los dos módulos que acompañan a este, a saber, Detección temprana: Concientización sobre la salud mamaria y estrategias para la detección temprana y Detección temprana: Diagnóstico y tamizaje mediante mamografía.