Gesundheitsbotschafter:innen

Breast cancer remains the most common malignant disease among women in Austria, yet participation in the national breast cancer screening program is low at around 40%, falling significantly below the EU average of 56%. Structural and socioeconomic factors create substantial barriers to screening access, particularly for women with migration experiences who face challenges related to language barriers, lower health literacy, and service navigation. Community-based partnerships and peer-led outreach models have proven highly effective at addressing these inequities by enhancing breast health literacy and driving screening uptake within underserved populations.

For this purpose, MSD Austria, Social City Wien, and the Future Health Lab are cooperating with the Community Health Lab (Grabovac Group) from the Medical University of Vienna to evaluate the pilot initiative “Gesundheitsbotschafter:innen” (“health ambassadors”). This project focuses on evaluating the feasibility, implementation barriers, and best practices of training peer outreach workers to deliver culturally sensitive cancer prevention information to women with migration backgrounds in Vienna.

Key members of the Grabovac Group: Igor Grabovac (Principal Investigator), Honja Hama, and Sabrina Pfluger