Malawi - KnowYourLemons Helps Bring Communities Together

Maggie Zgambo, Emmaculate Kawawa, and Mirrium Malowera are all laywomen trained by Lily. Here they are practicing breast examinations for cancer symptoms.

This week we bring you to Africa so you can meet an amazing Global Education Partner,  Dr. Lily Gutnik. She has been a force for good in educating men and women on the symptoms, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer in many parts of the world and particularly in the state of Malawi in central Africa. Here is how Lily has been using #knowyourlemons as part of her work to help teach and screen thousands:

"I created and researched a novel breast cancer screening program in urban health clinics in Lilongwe, Malawi,” she says. “I trained lay women with no health background on how to conduct clinical breast exams and provide breast cancer education talks to community women in the clinics.” Along with her work in awareness education, Lily works with clinics to help breast cancer screenings become more accessible and effective. “We screened 1,000 women and had a very high acceptance rate. The most common reason for not accepting was lack of time (after long clinic waiting times). I also worked with local advocacy community on breast cancer awareness, with the head of Non-communicable disease at the Ministry of Health on a cancer symposium and public screening event, and trained local clinicians on breast care."

Lily and her team have developed a flip chart that features the #knowyourlemons image to use in training and educating over 4,000 men and women on breast cancer awareness! As these people share their knowledge with others, thousands of others will be aware of the symptoms and treatments of breast cancer.  

Lily’s work is an inspiring reminder of how we can make a big impact and teach others how to be educators in their communities. You can be an educator too, whether it’s with your coworkers, your friends, with a church group, book club, or across the ocean like Lily. Click here to learn how you can become a Global Education Partner with Worldwide Breast Cancer and make a difference in your part of the world and help fight breast cancer starting with you.

Dr. Lily Gutnik supervising the training of local laywomen.

Mirrium and Maggie continuing in their training and teaching of the #knowyourlemon material.

Maggie and Emmaculate finishing their training so they can go out and educate other in their community.