Early cancer detection is saving lives in Sri Lanka

More than 20,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year in Sri Lanka, and many of them prove fatal. The Rotary Club of Colombo, Sri Lanka, set out 10 years ago to save some of those lives by establishing the Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Centre. 

In partnership with the National Cancer Control Programme and the Ministry of Health, the center in Colombo has screened more than 35,000 patients, mostly low-income, and detected more than 7,500 cases of abnormalities that required further investigation. The Rotary Club of Birmingham, Alabama, USA, donated a mammography and ultrasound scanner to the center’s breast cancer screening facility. 

The Colombo Rotary club is seeking to open early detection clinics in other easily accessible locations throughout Sri Lanka. 

Learn more about Rotary’s work in preventing disease