Saudi Rural Breast Cancer Prevention Framework

Abstract

According to the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health and privately conducted statistics on breast cancer, one out of every eight women (almost 12%) in Saudi Arabia has the chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer related disease during women's lifetime. The fact of this problem remains due to the lack of availability of experts and labs situated primarily in city hospitals and not reaching women (especially at the very early stages) living in remote and rural areas. In order to overcome these challenges, we conducted feasibility analysis and proposed a new online framework primarily focusing on women living in remote areas get diagnosed without having to travel to the city hospitals risking physically and financially. Our solution aims at bridging the gap between remote hospitals where patient mammograms and tissue samples can easily be collected and city hospitals having expert doctors for analyzing and producing patient reports during or after hours based on the patient file priority. Furthermore, our solution can help both the city hospitals and the government at large on analyzing big data collected through our system and prioritizing health related funds especially in worst affected areas. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this project is being proposed and we believe that our system can significantly improve breast cancer affected women's health condition living in remote areas, get treated especially at the early stages without the cost and discomfort of traveling.