IN 2016, Jamiah Hakim, 64, took 13 women for cancer screening at a private hospital.
All were cleared except for her. A lump was detected in her breast with a 10.15% chance of it being cancerous.
Jamiah is a cancer survivor who helps women in her community get screened and receive treatment.
Recalling her experience, Jamiah said due to lack of information, as well as feeling embarrassed to see a male doctor, she did not seek early treatment.
However, when the lump became bigger, she finally went to University Malaya Medical Centre (PPUM) in Kuala Lumpur.
Jamiah shared her cancer journey at the launch of the Rebung project at Taman Dato Harun, Petaling Jaya.
Rebung, which stands for Reducing Barriers in Cancer Early Diagnosis in the Urban B40 Group, is a pilot project funded by the Petaling Jaya Community Grant and Universiti Malaya (UM) Cancer Research Institute.
Jamiah helps women in her community get screened for cancer and obtain the necessary treatment under the project.
PPUM and Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) initiated the project for the B40 community in Taman Dato Harun and Taman Medan.
Rebung also roped in 12 women from the Taman Dato Harun community, including Jamiah, to offer peer support to women in surrounding neighbourhoods.
These women, who are known in their respective communities, help ensure others undergo screening and that those detected with cancer receive the necessary care and treatment.
They are called Rakan Pembimbing Kanser Komuniti (Ra.Kan.Ku).
Project explained
Petaling Jaya mayor Mohamad Azhan Amir said the name ‘Rebung’ was inspired by the Malay proverb ‘melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya’ which means shaping one’s character should start from young.
Similarly, early cancer detection would help save lives.
Mohamad Azhan (back row, fourth from left) with Ra.Kan.Ku. members during the launch of Rebung.
“The project aims for early detection of cancer within the B40 community in Taman Medan and Taman Dato Harun.
“The city council has allocated RM16,400 under the Petaling Jaya Community Grant,
“The National Statistics Department said 4,162 cancer-related deaths were recorded in 2020.
“This makes cancer a top five killer in the county.
“We want women to be healthy as they play an important role in nurturing their families,” he said.
The department said the top five types of cancer were breast, colorectal, lung, lymphoma and nasopharynx.
Among women, he said, cervical cancer was in the top three and MBPJ wanted to play a role in helping the marginalised get treatment.
Mohamad Azhan said that in March, MBPJ organised cervical cancer screening in the city in collaboration with the Rose Foundation.
The 12 Ra.Kan.Ku women would connect with the community through social media, show videos created specially for the Rebung project and reach out to the community.
Hospital Shah Alam and PPUM would be the referral hospitals for those who need to undergo treatment.
Five nurses were also trained from three community clinics namely Klinik Kesihatan Taman Medan, Klinik Nur Sejahtera and Klinik MBPJ to assist in the project.
Seven doctors also completed a course on cancer primary care to support the diagnostic and screening processes.
The project’s data collection would be carried out until September this year.
The city council would then know how many women have been screened through this project.
The Rebung training modules consist of the Ra.Kan.Ku community navigator to provide sustainable support to local community leaders through education on cancer, information on existing financial aid as well as networking opportunities with cancer-related non-governmental organisations.
The Rebung project also has 17 stakeholders to help reduce the gap in cancer care in Petaling Jaya.
The stakeholders consist of cancer-related organisations such as National Cancer Society of Malaysia, non-cancer organisation such as councillors in Petaling Jaya and government agencies such as Selangor Health Department.
Rebung’s key people
UM Gender Studies Programme senior lecturer Dr Lai Suat Yan said socio-cultural obstacles such as lack of funds, support and cancer awareness causes delay or late treatment.
“Other obstacles include beliefs in black magic and unproven therapies and lack of accurate health information,” she added.
UM Primary Care Medicine Department senior lecturer Dr Lee Yew Kong said the approach taken in the Rebung project was community action participatory research.
“Understanding health communication needs and developing the campaign with community members are important to maximise its impact,” he said.
UM Primary Care Medicine Department lecturer, Assoc Prof Dr Haireen Abdul Hadi, said information on cancer in Bahasa Malaysia was limited.
Dr Haireen believes information on cancer and its treatment should be disseminated in simple language to the B40 group.
To address this, the Rebung team created YouTube videos to provide simple information.
“Empowered communities will take necessary action in a timely manner,” she said, adding that YouTube videos on mammogram explained it in a simple manner in the national language.
“We created a character called ‘Kak Chah’ in our video series.
“She’s in her 50s and speaks in simple language so ordinary folk can understand.
“The issue with the B40 community is they are more focused on putting food on the table for their families.
“They need to know that their health is important and cheaper cancer treatment options are available at government clinics and hospitals,” said Dr Haireen.
“Some patients assume cancer treatment is expensive.
“Through this project, the women in the B40 community will be told that late detection would result in costly treatment,” she added.
Dr Haireen added that the 12 Ra.Kan.Ku would help ease the fear among women.
“They would encourage them to be screened and explain the consequences if their health worsens.”
Rebung’s principal investigator from the UM Cancer Research Institute, Prof Nur Aishah Mohd Taib said fixing poor cancer literacy alone was not enough.
“There is a need to strengthen the health system’s diagnostic and screening pathways as these have been proven to improve early cancer detection,” she said.
