{
  "id": 17693381,
  "title": "Improving access to breast cancer screening",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/01/improving-access-to-breast-cancer-screening",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-11-01T22:10:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/heal/2026/11/1568667/improving-access-breast-cancer-screening"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among Malaysian women, constituting more than a third of all female cancer diagnoses. According to the World Health Organisation's Globocan database, roughly one in every 20 women in Malaysia will receive a breast cancer diagnosis at some point in their life. Despite early-stage detection yielding a five-year survival rate of over 90 percent, the Malaysian National Cancer Registry Report reveals that nearly half of all breast cancer cases in Malaysia are diagnosed at advanced stages (stages three and four), which significantly reduces five-year survival rates.\n\nFinancial constraints, limited healthcare access, and low awareness continue to impede many women, especially those in underserved and B40 communities, from receiving timely breast cancer screening. To tackle this issue, Homesoy has partnered with the National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) under the \"Stop That Dot Together\" campaign. This collaboration aims to improve early breast cancer detection and health awareness in underserved communities.\n\nThe partnership will fund community health screening events at various locations across the country and provide 100 mammograms to help low-income women access essential early detection services. NCSM's managing director, Professor Dr Murallitharan Munisamy, attributes financial limitations and the lack of localized access to why women from underserved communities often delay breast cancer screening. He emphasizes, \"Our collaboration with Homesoy enables NCSM to bring mobile clinical check-ups directly to housing communities and fund 100 free mammograms through the Adopt-A-Mammogram Programme.\"\n\nEnsuring equal access to early detection tools is vital, as a woman's socio-economic status should never dictate her chances of surviving cancer. The \"Stop That Dot Together\" campaign encourages women to prioritize their health and confront their fears related to breast cancer screening.",
  "summary": "Your browser does not support the audio element.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}