An end to breast cancer may soon be in sight as a bra has been invented to detect the killer disease.
Idris Dangana, a primary school teacher decided to invent a device to help early detection after the death of a woman close to his heart.
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The 43-year-old Kano indigene decided to quit his job as a teacher and develop his interest in learning computer and software development skills in a bid to also help his community.
News of the death of a woman who died from breast cancer where his friend, Isah visited brought back painful memories for Dangana.
He said:
“He was touched by the story in particular and it reminded him of the so many pains he witnessed his elder sister went through when she had breast cancer. Luckily, she survived it,” he said. “
He said seeing a woman under the sun holding a hospital card begging for money just to conduct a surgery on one of her breasts while he was driving was his worst nightmare. He said the surgery only cost over N150, 000. She could not wear clothes and used a veil to cover her upper body.”
That highly inspired him to take his mind away from his sad experience e had as a teacher and focus on ways to prevent deaths from cancer.
“For many women in the rural areas, the cost of screening was too much on them because there are no screening machines in primary healthcare centers,” he said. He said the cost to get screened is between N3, 500 to N6, 000 in cities.
Surgery costs above N150, 000. Not all hospitals are equipped with mammography machines as they cost about $60,000.”
Dangana resolves to find an affordable means to detect cancer led to the idea of BCScan, an innovation of the DiceHub (DIHub), which is behind the cancer-detecting device.
We worked together and talked a lot on partnerships with a local NGO on breast cancer, we went deep with our search about this deadly cancer by asking as many women in our network, including healthcare professionals. The feedback was scary,” he said.
They finally came up with a solution in the form of a brassier, fitted with Artificial Intelligence, that would be able to find out tumors that are as small as 2mm in diameter. The device would make sure the cancer is early detected, Dangana said and it is especially for women in rural areas with limited access to health care and the prohibitive cost of mammography.