The best way to effect any behaviour change is to ride on existing cultural behaviour. Women in rural India have a unique practice when it comes to protecting their money - they keep their purses in their blouses. Could this unique habit also help protect them from breast cancer? Riding on this, we designed purses with illustrative visuals of women checking themselves - which served as a reminder to perform the simple breast self-examination steps given inside. The purses were printed on skin-friendly cloth and designed using 9 famous Indian folk-art styles. The 'batua' thus became a purse that didn't just protect their wealth, but their health as well.

The incidence of breast cancer is on the rise in rural India. While the awareness of simple preventive self checks is very low.

Moreover, culturally women are not open about their health issues in these remote villages, which is why the reminder medium needed to be something discreet and personal - A 'Batua', the traditional Indian women's purse. Women in rural India have a unique practice when it comes to protecting their money - they keep their purses in their blouses. Can this unique habit also help protect them from breast cancer?