Tamar remembers feeling dread three years ago, when she discovered a lump in her breast. Recalling her mother's and aunts' struggles with breast cancer, she went to a doctor, who referred her for surgery in Tbilisi, four hours away, because he lacked diagnostic equipment for further evaluation. The lump was removed, and it was benign -. Tamar could breathe again.

But while she knows the importance of early detection, she also knows that most women in Georgia do not. Breast cancer is especially lethal in Georgia, where, each year, nearly 3000 women are diagnosed, but often not until it is too late to treat. Today, as a volunteer women’s health advocate, Tamar is ending the silence by teaching women about self-examination and other methods of early detection such as mammography.

She had her biggest audience yet when Georgia's first breast cancer awareness event, the Walk to Save Lives, was held September 24, 2007, in Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city. Together, 1,000 participants walked through the centre of the western Georgian city, home to about 250,000, in the event organized by the Healthy Women in Georgia Project.

A local women's health organization linked students, families, local NGOs and other community members. Dozens of volunteers registered participants and distributed, and women's health advocates used models and diagrams to demonstrate how to perform breast self-examinations. Participants learned where they can go for physicals with women's health specialists. At the walk's end, local officials announced the arrival of modern mammography equipment donated to Kutaisi's Women's Wellness Center, and women were invited to visit the center for free mammograms. "This is information that all women need; I wish my mother and aunts had been able to receive it," says Tamar. "Now that they know what to do and where to go for help, I think it will make a big difference in a lot of lives."

The Healthy Women in Georgia Program, which began in September 2003, works with communities in four regions – Imereti, Samegrelo and Guria in the west, and Kakheti in the east-  to encourage “women-friendly” health care information, counseling, and services in primary care facilities and communities. A successful pilot program in 44 health facilities in disadvantaged rural and urban communities is now being scaled-up to 123 facilities in the regions, inspiring major policy changes to improve access to FP and ANC across Georgia. Funded by USAID, the program is implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. in collaboration with Save the Children USA, the Orthos Fund, Curatio International Foundation, CLARITAS, and the Caucasus Social Marketing Association.

This story was prepared from A Walk to Save Lives, information about the Healthy Women in Georgia Program, and information on the project website.

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