Breast cancer education programmes in rural areas are important to enable women to go for early screening and treatment, says a midwife. Antenatal and Family Planning Officer for the Rabaul Urban Town clinic, Ivy Tewe said with limited medical resources and treatment options, awareness and education on breast and other cancers was crucial. Ms Tewe said this when conducting “Pinktober” breast cancer awareness at the island LLG of Watom in Rabaul district. She said the breast cancer awareness program began this month randomly at the town clinic’s outpatient ward but mainly it was conducted at Watom Island during maternal health care and school outreach program The awareness covered the 8 wards especially mothers who brought in their babies for immunization and to the three primary schools for upper grade female students and female teachers. She said when cancer was detected at an early stage, it could be treated early. “Women must be educated on what to look out for and basic self-examination of the breast is something women should do regularly. Know how your breast looks and keep an eye out for lumps, change in skin colour and other signs,” she said. Ms Tewe said the aim of awareness is to let women and young girls know the real risk of cancer and breast abnormalities and where to go referred to as referral pathway. “For the last seven years, have been distributing self-examination forms on how you can check your own breasts at home. We do demonstration of how to check for abnormalities and coming to the health facility for clinical workers to do health examination on the breast.”