If you notice a change in a breast, take it to a health worker. Most breast changes are not cancer. That is why it is safe to get one checked, and why a change that has not settled is a reason to go back rather than to wait. Breast cancer was the most common cancer in Ethiopia’s 2024 estimates.
Key facts
- Ethiopia’s estimate for 2024 was 18,840 new breast cancer cases and 8,812 deaths (opens in a new tab). That is 23.8% of all new cancers, and 36.0% of those estimated in Ethiopian women. GLOBOCAN 2024 round.
- Those are modelled estimates. They are worked out from partial registration, not counted from diagnoses.
- About 80% of breast cancers (opens in a new tab) happen in women with no risk factor other than being a woman and growing older (WHO, 3 July 2026).
- Most breast lumps are not cancer (opens in a new tab) (WHO, 3 July 2026).
- Breast cancer happens in men too. It is about 0.5 to 1% of cases (opens in a new tab) (WHO, 3 July 2026).
- In countries with a low Human Development Index, 1 woman in 27 is diagnosed (opens in a new tab) in her lifetime and 1 in 48 dies of it. Where the index is very high, 1 in 12 is diagnosed and 1 in 71 dies (WHO, 3 July 2026).
Changes to look for
These are the changes WHO lists as possible symptoms of breast cancer.
- A lump or thickening in the breast. It is often not painful.
- A change in the size, the shape or the look of the breast.
- Dimpling, redness, pitting, or another change in the skin.
- A change in how the nipple looks, or the skin around it.
- Fluid from the nipple that is not normal for you, or that has blood in it.
- A sore on the breast that does not heal.
All of these have causes other than cancer. Breasts change with periods, with pregnancy, with breastfeeding and with age. Infections and harmless lumps are common. So none of these findings is a diagnosis. Each one is a reason to be checked.
Take a lump to a health worker even if it does not hurt. WHO says so directly: a lump without pain still needs care. Waiting for it to become painful is waiting for the wrong signal.
Feeling for a change
You do not need a technique or a set day of the month. What helps is knowing what is normal for you, so that you notice when something is not.
Look and feel across the whole breast, up to the collarbone, and into the armpit. Breast tissue reaches further than most people expect. A change under the arm matters as much as one in the breast.
What this means in Ethiopia
There is no screening round to wait for. Screening means testing women who have no symptoms, usually by mammography. WHO notes that mammographic screening is impractical in many countries at present. WHO also says this: awareness of signs and symptoms improves outcomes even where mammographic screening does not exist.
Ethiopia has told WHO that a national breast cancer screening programme exists, in both its 2019 and its 2021 reporting (Global Health Observatory, NCD_CCS_breastcancerscreening). In 2015 and 2017 it answered no. What that programme covers, who it invites and which test it uses are not published. So the practical route is the one that does not depend on being invited: notice a change, and take it to a health worker.
The 18,840 cases and 8,812 deaths estimated for 2024 (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024) are model outputs. Incidence comes from a subnational registry applied to the whole population. Deaths are worked out from modelled ratios rather than counted. Nothing in the estimate is broken down by region, so the figures cannot show how breast cancer differs between Addis Ababa and a rural woreda.
Ethiopia’s stage-at-diagnosis figure — more than 80% found at an advanced stage, recorded by WHO AFRO in November 2025 — is for cervical cancer, not breast. It also describes cases that reached a facility, so it is a case series and not a population estimate.
What is established about risk
Alcohol is the exposure on these pages with evidence judged sufficient for breast cancer. IARC classifies alcoholic drinks as carcinogenic to humans (opens in a new tab), and breast is one of eight sites where it judges the evidence sufficient, in its May 2026 update. Consumption per Ethiopian adult was 2.3 litres of pure alcohol in 2024.
Being a woman and growing older are the two strongest risk factors, and neither can be changed. That is why noticing a change matters more here than any list of things to avoid.
Body weight and physical activity appear in breast cancer material written elsewhere. Ethiopia’s exposure profile is different from the countries that material was written for, and the figures are set out on the weight and physical activity page.
What you can do
- Take a change you have noticed to a health worker. Do not wait for a screening round, and do not wait for it to hurt.
- Learn what is normal for your own breasts, including up to the collarbone and into the armpit, so a change stands out.
- Ask what assessment is available where you are seen, and what happens next. Whether it is done there or elsewhere, how long it takes and what it costs are all worth asking before you travel.
- Ask about cost early. Out-of-pocket payment was 46% of Ethiopian health expenditure in 2023 (WHO Global Health Observatory, indicator
GHED_OOPSCHE_SHA2011), so it is worth knowing what a visit involves beforehand. - If you drink alcohol, fewer heavy drinking occasions is the change with established evidence behind it for breast cancer. The food and alcohol page sets out what IARC’s classification does and does not say.