Awareness of Breast Cancer among Tribal Women in the Nilgiris District Santhiya J. Research Scholar, Department of Women's Studies, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-46, Tamil nadu, India Online published on 24 April, 2018. Abstract Breast cancer is the second leading cause of mortality and morbidity in both developed and developing countries for women. The global burden of breast cancer is estimated to be 2 million by the year 2030 from developing countries according to Jermal A, 2011. The incidence of breast cancer is growing in younger age and elder women population worldwide. In India, the breast cancer incidence is very high among rural women. Poverty, lack of education, shortage of screening facilities, advanced stages at diagnosis and gender inequality in healthcare activities are barriers for increasing the breast cancer incidence in India. This study was carried out to understand the level of awareness about breast cancer warning signs, risk factors and screening practices among tribal women in the Nilgiris District. The sample was collected from both married and unmarried women in the age group of 18–70 years. 40 women were randomly selected by using lottery method. A self administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analyzed through simple frequencies. The study results showed that the awareness regarding the breast cancer was relatively poor. However there is significant association between the age, marital life, education level, and the level of awareness. Top Keywords Breast cancer, Awareness, Warning signs, Risk factors, Tribal women. Top |