Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Cambodian women and the third most common cancer overall. With 2,116 new cases (19.9%) and 917 deaths reported in 2022, it is the fourth highest mortality of all cancers.
Most women do not present to health professionals until they have advanced disease and treatment options are limited. Breast self-examination is a globally recognised tool that can help with the early detection of breast cancer.

Opportunistic brief interventions are an important strength-based approach to provide health education to women and girls who may not have regular access to health services. This project applied globally recognised best practice health education principles to a localised cultural context of rural Cambodian communities. The pilot was undertaken in September 2024 during the annual week-long primary care clinics provided by volunteer nurses to rural communities throughout Battambang province.

Utilising World Health Organisation best practice breast self-examination principles, collaboration and user acceptance testing was undertaken with local health clinicians and community members to ensure appropriate target literacy level and cultural context. Face-to face ‘train-the-trainer’ sessions and resources were provided to female participants to provide opportunistic brief interventions to local women and girls. The resources and training were created and conducted by an enrolled nurse with expertise in health promotion.

Thirty-three participants were trained including 16 university students/interpreters and two nurses at the Pet Yie Chi Shelter for the Sick (Battambang), five nurses/midwives at Roka Referral Hospital (Roka), and 10 non-health workers at Heart Print, a charity providing social programs to disadvantaged families (Siem Reap).

The project has demonstrated that global best practice health education principles, alongside collaboration with local clinicians and community members, can be contextualised to meet the cultural needs of communities. The project will continue to expand each year to increase the reach of opportunistic brief interventions.