Stories from a filming trip in Zambia- from the truly heartbreaking to the endlessly inspiring.

Sue Collins is the Presenter and Producer of the Conquering Cancer Campaign. She recently travelled to Zambia to film for the upcoming film, Conquering Breast Cancer. 

 

 

 

Where do I start? Well, I think sharing some of the perks of being a documentary filmmaker is as good a place as any.

Zambia was so rich with stories, beautiful people and incredible locations including one of the seven natural wonders of the world – Victoria Falls.

The Zambian people we met were some of the friendliest and warmest I’ve met anywhere in the world. The country is spectacular, and seeing Victoria Falls was a sight I will never forget. I feel very lucky to have seen it with water

 flowing, as they have been experiencing a severe drought for the past few months.

 

 

 

I’m always blown away by the extraordinary people we meet, and it gives me a great sense of hope knowing that there are people all over the world doing really good work. And the people we met on this trip were no exception.

We visited Zambia to explore stories for our new film Conquering Breast Cancer. If you’ve seen Conquering Cervical Cancer, you’ll recall we followed the story of how Zambia is rising up to the challenge of eliminating cervical cancer- which is currently the most common cancer in the country. Followed in second place by breast cancer.

So, we were keen to learn how the country is going to take on this disease in light of the WHO resolution on breast cancer.

In 2021, The World Health Organization launched the Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI). The initiative brings together stakeholders from around the world and across sectors with the shared goal of reducing breast cancer by 2.5% per year, which, over a period of 20 years, would save 2.5 million lives.

The key 3 pillars of action outlined by WHO include:

• Health promotion and early detection.
• Timely diagnosis.
• Comprehensive breast cancer management.

 

Conquering Breast Cancer will showcase how this can be done.

 

 

The team from MD Anderson were in Lusaka attending the Oncology Symposium 2024 – Bridging the Cancer Care Gap- fostering collaborations and capacity building with the Zambia Ministry of Health and MD Anderson Cancer Center and Cancer Disease Hospital. What better way to meet all the right people in the same place at the same time? So Mike and I landed in Lusaka, Zambia, and began filming.

And the week did not disappoint. We filmed stories from women experiencing or having survived breast cancer, advocates raising awareness of the importance of early detection, prompt diagnosis and access to treatment, and specialists working to build capacity and save lives.

Some of the stories were heartbreaking, and really driving home what’s at stake if the country isn’t successful in improving access to services. Other stories were inspiring and bring hope that the future looks better. But learning about the successes the country is having since rolling out the cervical cancer programs, brings hope that the same can be done for breast cancer.

 

 

 

One young woman we spoke to shared that although she was very conscientious in staying up to date with her cervical screenings, she did not know about breast cancer and what to do when she first found a lump in her breast.

A huge win for the cervical cancer awareness program, but a sad outcome for breast cancer. Interestingly, the country is now combining breast and cervical services so that women can access both at the same visit. It’s not easy to take time out to get a preventative checkup, so it makes sense to offer both at the same time.

We have been hearing over and over again, in all countries we’ve visited, that the best outcome for breast cancer survivors is to diagnose it early.

 

The earlier the better.

 

But in order to get an early diagnosis, women need to know the signs to look out for, how to check their own breasts. Then they need access to services like mammograms, or even a doctor trained in breast examination to detect anything that needs further investigation. Then women need to get a timely diagnosis. And importantly – they need access to effective treatment.

All this needs to happen for the burden of breast cancer to be reduced in countries like Zambia.

 

 

 

We know that when a woman is struck down by disease in the prime of her life, the impact on her and her family is significant, even catastrophic. So there is much work to be done.

We’ll share much more in the coming months about our time in Zambia and the work that is underway there, so thank you for coming on this journey with us. Raising awareness of these issues goes a long way in helping change the future outcomes for millions of women across the globe. We saw this first-hand with Conquering Cervical Cancer’s outreach campaign, and we have similar hopes for Conquering Breast Cancer.

 

 

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