Miriam Mutebi, Breast Surgical Oncologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“A 65-year-old woman sat in my office and whispered, embarrassed: “Doctor, I’ve never touched my own breasts. Could you teach me how to examine myself?
She discovered her lump by accident while bathing. By then, it had been growing for months, maybe years.
In 2026, there is a grandmother somewhere in Africa, who still doesn’t know that her body belongs to her.
- There are women who think breast self-examination is shameful and young mothers told they’re “too young” for breast cancer, despite aggressive tumors.
- There are families choosing between chemotherapy and rent because financial toxicity destroys as many lives as cancer does.
- There are patients who stop treatment because a religious leader convinced them that faith and medicine can’t coexist.
These system failures are also cultural failures and communication failures that continue killing women, who could have survived.
1. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in African women.
Not “women over 60.” Women. Period. Including women in their 20s and 30s who’ve been told it’s not their concern.
2. Early detection saves lives, but only if women know how to detect early.
My 65-year-old patient never learned breast self-examination because these were “private matters.” She’s not alone. Millions of African women have never been taught that knowing their bodies is their right AND their responsibility.
3. The myths are literally deadly
“Only old women get breast cancer.”
False.
“Breastfeeding protects you completely.”
False.
“Faith means refusing medical treatment.”
Dangerously False.
These beliefs cost lives. Every. Single. Day.
4. Financial toxicity destroys families
Cancer treatment bankrupts families in ways that create generational poverty. We need to talk about this openly so we can change the systems that make survival financially impossible.
5. Silence kills more women than cancer does.
When we can’t talk about our bodies, we can’t advocate for our health. When families don’t discuss cancer prevention, daughters grow up as ignorant as their mothers. When communities treat women’s health as taboo, preventable deaths become inevitable.
Stuff I’d Tell My Sister isn’t the book that solves every problem, but the start of a conversation we should have been having all along.
Get your copy Today:
Physical copies: Available at Kowcha Books
Digital copies: Amazon and Kowcha Books
Price: KES 1,800
See link in comments
Q: What’s one conversation about women’s health that you wish happened more openly in your community?”
Other articles featuring Miriam Mutebi on OncoDaily.