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Healthcare Awareness for Expats
2025/10/22 | By Daniella Gidaly
Knowing how things work is half the battle
Healthcare is always a ‘sensitive’ subject when one travels to another country. Often there is a balance between what ‘is’ and what one ‘expects’, which when mediated by different cultural backgrounds can add to misunderstandings. This story simply shares the importance of knowing how things work when it comes to preventative healthcare in the Netherlands.
This story is about my role with Mammarosa and how lack of knowledge can be very damaging. One in seven women in the Netherlands will develop breast cancer. Many of these women lack a good command of Dutch and/or are afraid to talk openly about breast cancer with family or friends in their culture. Mammarosa helps these women.
Local initiatives of consideration
As president of the Mammarosa Foundation, I don’t often give presentations about breast cancer and the importance of early detection – I leave that to the volunteers who speak the relevant languages of the many communities we serve, like Turkish, Moroccan Arabic, Papiamento or Somalian, and of course Dutch. So when a request reached us for a presentation in English at The Hungry Mind, the volunteers looked at me: not one of them was fluent in English.
It was a sunny spring morning and I decided to bike; from my house to The Hungry Mind was a steep half hour according to Google Maps. Once I arrived at the location, a bit tired, hungry and longing for a big glass of cold water, I couldn’t find any sign saying The Hungry Mind at the Sports Park that Google Maps had directed me to. However, when I asked a lady in the cosily decorated room it turned out that I was exactly where I needed to be.
A group of about 15 women, mothers of students at the International School of the Hague, meet here on a regular basis. Since I knew nothing about them, I started asking a few relevant questions, such as: “Have you ever heard about ‘bevolkingsonderzoek’ (population screenings)?” and “Do you know the screening exists only for a small number of regularly occurring cancers, which are often curable if detected early?”.
None of the mothers present knew about the existence or importance of these free ‘bevolkingsonderzoeken’ surveys in the Netherlands. The most shocking part was when I showed them a letter from Bevolkingsonderzoek Zuid-West; they all remembered having received such a letter, but had thrown it away convinced it was just publicity. And now that they understood what the surveys were about, they were eager to participate.
Learning and understanding
These surveys are at the core of what many understand as ‘preventative’ healthcare. In the Netherlands, data is used to target populations at risk and these easily done ‘tests’ are shared or planned in order to screen the target population – and with early detection treatment can be provided. The main illnesses covered by these screenings are breast cancer, colon cancer and colorectal cancer. Each screening system is set up according to data that varies per illness, age in particular, and invitations are sent out to all for a free of charge screening.
The Dutch health ministry services have agreed that the earlier these health challenges are identified, the easier and more successfully they can be treated.
I was delighted to let these ladies at The Hungry Mind know how they could re-activate these invitations, and when I heard about ACCESS Stories I was reminded that often not knowing something can make situations even more challenging. So I am sharing this story with you.
Details for all these screenings can be found at the Bevolkingsonderzoek (population screening site) website – English pages. However, if you have a history for any of these conditions it is strongly advised to share this history with your GPs, so that different screening possibilities can be considered for you.
Daniella Gidaly
President of the Board of the Mammarosa Foundation
Bevolkingsonderzoek Nederland is the centre for the population screening programmes offered by the Dutch government. There are three screening programmes: breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening programme. Participation is free and voluntary.
For more information on the centre and the screenings please visit https://www.bevolkingsonderzoeknederland.nl/
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