The principal barrier to breast cancer treatment is late detection because of the lack of awareness about self-examination steps. The Health Purse addressed this barrier using a cultural habit to educate them and serve as a reminder for regular checks that could help early detection and save more lives.

There are no restrictions or regulations regarding women's health awareness messages in India. The normal practice is to get the message corroborated by medical experts. Our initiative was supported and conducted with the Cancer Patients Aid Association - India's pre-eminent organisation for Cancer prevention and guidance.

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? Riding on this age-old habit, 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.

These illustrations are made in 9 popular folk-art styles which rural India is familiar with. Namely: Gondh, Pichwai, Rajput, Phad, Kalighat, Kalamkari, Patachitra, Madhubani and Cheriyal. The front face of the purses has a simple play on a woman conducting a breast self-examination, rendered differently for different styles. These were meticulously created with the help of folk artists, over the course of two months.

The inside flap has simple step illustrations that are a useful visual guide for women to do the self checks.

The inside of the purse has easy to understand visual steps to conduct a breast self-examination. The copy under each illustration explains the procedure.

The line at the bottom asks the woman to get in touch with her local village health centre if she feels any abnormality while checking her breasts.