Everyone Knows. Yet No One Checks.
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September 6, 2025
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The paradox of breast cancer awareness in India.
Still Aware. Yet Unaware. Why Breast Cancer Awareness Needs a New Direction.
Despite increasing awareness drives and pink campaigns every year, India is witnessing a silent surge in breast cancer cases. The numbers are alarming and they demand more than just talk. One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 4 minutes in India, and one woman dies from it every 8 minutes (National Cancer Registry Programme, ICMR 2020). By 2025, India is projected to witness 2,32,832 new breast cancer cases, with a rising incidence in both urban and rural regions (ICMR). What’s even more concerning is that nearly 50% of these cases are diagnosed in Stage III or IV, when treatment becomes more difficult and more expensive (WHO South-East Asia, 2021). The survival rate drops drastically when diagnosis is delayed, even though early-stage breast cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer.
So why is early detection still such a challenge? Because awareness is not accessible. Because screening is still out of reach for most women, due to fear, privacy concerns, lack of knowledge, or simply no nearby facility.
So why is early detection still such a challenge? Because awareness is not accessible. Because screening is still out of reach for most women, due to fear, privacy concerns, lack of knowledge, or simply no nearby facility.
Why Women Still Miss the Bus on Breast Cancer Screening
Despite growing awareness campaigns, there are persistent barriers that prevent women, especially in rural and underserved regions, from getting screened for breast cancer. The issue isn’t just ignorance; it’s a combination of fear, stigma, discomfort, and inaccessibility.
1. Privacy Concerns
Many women hesitate to undergo screenings because of the physical exposure it may involve. The idea of being examined by strangers, especially male technicians or in mixed-gender clinical settings creates anxiety and shame. This sense of vulnerability becomes a major deterrent.
2. Fear of Pain
Traditional mammograms are known to be physically uncomfortable or even painful. This fear amplified by stories or misinformation often leads women to postpone or completely avoid screening.
3. Lack of Access
Screening centres are often located in urban hospitals, out of reach for those in small towns or remote villages. For a woman managing household duties, travel time, costs, and unfamiliarity with hospital systems can make screening feel like an unachievable luxury.
4. Social Conditioning
There’s a deep-rooted tendency among Indian women to put their families’ health and needs before their own. Self-checks or preventive healthcare simply don’t feel like a priority even when they should be.
5. Low Perceived Risk
Younger women or those without a family history often assume “this can’t happen to me.” Breast cancer awareness campaigns may exist, but the call to action is still weak.
A Founder’s Wake-Up Call: The Birth of Breva
Kashyap Raval didn’t set out to build a breast cancer screening van. He wasn’t a doctor, nor a cancer specialist. But sometimes, a personal crisis pushes you into action even when the system doesn’t.
It began at home. In a well-educated, urban household with access to healthcare, his own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer late. Despite years of awareness campaigns and access to doctors, she hadn’t known what to look for. By the time the family discovered it, the condition had progressed. And with it came the emotional, physical, and financial toll that so many Indian families silently carry.
That moment lit a spark.
Kashyap began digging deeper, talking to doctors, survivors, radiologists, health workers. What he found was both alarming and clear: awareness isn’t the problem anymore, access is. Women may have seen the pink ribbons, but they had no way to act on them. Hospitals were far. Mammography was expensive. And most importantly it felt invasive, uncomfortable, even intimidating.
This is where Breva was born a startup with one single goal:
To bridge the last mile between breast cancer awareness and actual screening.
What Is Breva?
Breva is India’s first privacy-first, portable, AI-powered breast screening solution, delivered through a mobile van that goes to the women, not the other way around. It reaches tribal belts, college campuses, factories, offices, even forest department staff quarters ensuring that no woman is left behind when it comes to early detection.
But what truly sets Breva apart isn’t just the mobility it’s the experience inside the van:
- No physical touch
- No pain
- No awkward exposure
- No doctor needed at the site
- Just 15 minutes per woman
Breva uses thermal imaging combined with AI-based analysis, powered by NIRAMAI’s proprietary technology already trusted by hospitals like Sterling and SSG. Women enter the van alone, are guided by female staff, and the screening is done without any contact. Reports are securely shared later, with clinical interpretation when needed.
At every step Breva is powered on-ground by an all-female team. This isn’t just a token feature, it’s a powerful reason why women, especially in rural or conservative areas, feel safe and willing to step forward for screening. No embarrassment. No judgment. No pressure.
The Experience, In 3 Words: Private. Painless. Portable. This is not just a slogan. It’s what 15,000+ women across Gujarat and beyond have already experienced and it’s why Breva is turning awareness into action.
Impact: From Idea to Access – One Camp, One Woman at a Time
In just over a year, Breva has gone from a seed of an idea to a high-impact movement creating real-world change in the space of breast cancer awareness and screening. What started as a response to a personal tragedy has now become a scalable healthcare solution with measurable results.
- 15,000+ women screened across India
- 10+ screening camps conducted in diverse environments, from tribal interiors and urban slums to government institutions, corporate townships, and zoological parks
- Powered by an all-women team, ensuring trust, comfort, and cultural sensitivity
- First-time screening for a large majority of participants, who had never accessed breast screening services before
- Partnerships with leading medical institutions like Sterling Hospital and SSG Hospital Vadodara for clinical alignment and post-screening support
But these numbers only tell half the story.
At every camp, women walk in hesitant and walk out empowered. One participant shared how she felt relieved that “nobody touches and nobody sees you” describing the process inside Breva’s AI-powered mobile van as “safe, private, and judgment-free.” Another said this was the first time in her life she felt she had control over her breast health.
Most participants shared that they would never have gone to a hospital or clinic for this. Whether due to distance, fear, hesitation, or lack of awareness screening was not even a consideration until Breva brought it to their doorstep.
This consistent feedback reveals an urgent truth:
Lack of access, not awareness, is the bigger barrier.
And Breva is changing that: one van, one village, one life at a time.
More than a campaign, Breva is a solution on wheels with the power to reach, screen, and empower women before it’s too late.
How HMS Consultants Came Into the Picture
While Breva was founded with an extraordinary vision, scaling that vision requires more than passion. It needs strategy, structure, and a brand story that resonates across the nation. That’s where HMS Consultants stepped in.
At HMS, we don’t just guide healthcare brands we champion causes that have the power to reshape the landscape of preventive care in India. From the very beginning, we saw in Breva a rare combination of purpose, potential, and proof. A 100% women-led, tech-driven solution that wasn’t just talking about change, it was delivering it, screening after screening, camp after camp.
From early brand-building and trust-building collaterals to strategic planning for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our goal has always been simple, make sure the right institutions hear about Breva, believe in it, and come forward to support it.
At HMS, we believe this solution deserves national visibility, and we’re committed to helping Breva reach there.
This October, Be the Reason Someone Gets Screened Early
Every October, social media feeds turn pink. Awareness walks are organized. Posters go up. But how many women actually get screened?
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let’s move from talking to doing.
If you’re part of a corporate, educational institution, bank, community organization, or NGO you can bring breast screening directly to the women who need it most. Whether it’s your employees, your students, your community members, or the women in the villages you serve. This October, give them not just awareness, but access.
Partner with Breva. Bring our private, painless, proven screening van to your campus, office, or outreach zone. Help the women around you take a simple step that could change or even save their lives.
A few hours. A quiet parking spot. A life-saving opportunity.
We invite institutions, CSR leaders, women’s cell coordinators, HR managers, program directors, and NGO teams to come forward. Let’s join hands to create an October that’s truly impactful.
To book a screening or collaborate:
Write to us at kashyap@breva.in or Call +91 9712683838 or visit our website: breva.in
Tagging institutions and NGOs who can make a difference:
Deepak Foundation | Tata Trusts | United Way Vadodara | Piramal Foundation | Azim Premji Foundation | ACT Grants | Smile Foundation | Akshay Patra Foundation | Infosys Foundation | Teach for India | SEWA | Goonj | Wipro Cares | Reliance Foundation | CRY | Pratham India | Bharti Foundation | Aditya Birla Group | Kotak Education Foundation | Essar Foundation | HelpAge India | Aga Khan Foundation
is something we strongly believe in, which means ‘Knowledge without application is the same as having no knowledge at all
Akhil Dave
Principle Consultant
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