Consumer engagement at the heart of BSV

One of our CAG members is Namrita Kadalbajoo, who has been involved in BSV Consumer Advisory group activities since 2021. Namrita has been very generous with her time and has provided invaluable insights to 2 strategic projects.

“When I first received my breast screen invitation letter when I turned 50, I ignored it for at least a year. I have no family history of breast cancer, I live a very healthy life, eat healthy, never smoked never drank—it wasn’t until my sister had a cancer scare that I had my first breast screen,” Namrita explains when asked about her experience with our program. “They found something on my mammogram that needed further investigation. After another mammogram and a biopsy, it turned out to be a very high-grade tumour. It was still small, but really nasty and it could have done a lot of damage. Thanks to BreastScreen Victoria, it was found in time and after surgery, chemo and radiation, I have been in remission since 2021. We are very lucky in this country to have access to these cancer screening programs; BreastScreen Victoria saved my life.”

Our program is available to all women and trans and gender diverse people in Victoria, aged 50 to 74, without breast symptoms. Some communities, like people from multicultural backgrounds, people with disability, people from LGBTIQA+ communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are known to screen at a much lower rate than the general population. The reason for that is that these communities experience extra barriers to participating in our program; be it a language barrier, a cultural barrier or a physical barrier.  It is people like Namrita and her fellow CAG members that offer us invaluable insights that help us provide more equitable access to our program.