Brazil expands mobile women's health units to boost cancer screening in Rio and Manaus
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited a mobile women's health unit in Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro on 17 July. The unit provides early‑diagnosis services for breast and cervical cancer, including mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies and colposcopy, and has performed 745 procedures for 687 patients since it began operating on 12 June. Rio de Janeiro state now operates 11 mobile health units—five dedicated to women's health—that have served more than 13,000 people and completed over 31,600 procedures.
In Manaus, the Sesc Amazonas mobile health unit resumed free Pap‑smear examinations, scheduled via WhatsApp, and will continue offering the service until December. The unit aims to provide more than 2,000 screenings this year. Sesc runs 25 mobile units in 21 states, delivering breast‑cancer and cervical‑cancer screening services nationwide, although mammography is temporarily suspended in Manaus.
Both initiatives are part of a broader federal and civil‑society effort to increase access to preventive women's health care across Brazil.