Celebrating 20 Years of Impact
Welcome to AWCAA
African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association (AWCAA)
AWCAA focuses on improving knowledge and increasing awareness about cancer across the African community.
The African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association (AWCAA), was established in 2004 as a non-profit organization dedicated to improve health care delivery and services to African women with cancer through education, resources, and training.
Our Services
Workshops and Training
AWCAA impacts thousands of lives by providing educational workshops and events hosted by trained cultural ambassadors.
Patient Navigation Services
We help underserved, underprivileged, and underinsured African immigrant women move through the continuum of care.
We conduct medical missions to various countries to promote breast cancer awareness and improve chronic disease.
Our Founder
Ify A. Nwabukwu
A story of two friends and a mother.
In 1989, after I had my last child, I invited my mother to the US from Nigeria to help take care of me and her granddaughter. She was a known diabetic, so I took her to see an endocrinologist upon her arrival. Subsequently, the doctor decided to do a general body examination, only to find a mass on her right breast.
My mother, Mrs. Lucy Chidozie Adaba (Nee Onwumah), had been working with the thought that it was congealed breast milk. She explained to us that her last child didn’t breastfeed well, so she thought it was breast milk that was still sitting there. She treated it with warm compress and pain relief medications to subside the soreness. However, it wouldn’t suffice.
This was Stage 2 breast cancer. At the time of her diagnosis, she had no health insurance. Moreover, she had not lived in the USA long enough to qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. Needless to say, I had a huge problem in my hands. I was ill-prepared to pay for her treatment and didn’t know where to turn for help.
AARP Purpose Prize Winner
After losing her mother and close friend to breast cancer, Ify Nwabukwu recognized the need for education and health care access for the African women immigrant community. AARP® Purpose Prize® award winner Ify Nwabukwu speaks about her passion behind African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association and how it is her mission to save lives through early detection of breast cancer.
AWCAA Events
AWCAA News & Media
AWCAA Social
Our Partners
