In June, a health ministry official revealed in a parliamentary Q&A session with a lawmaker that the government will soon start informing women undergoing municipal breast cancer screenings about their breast density, reversing the government’s longtime opposition to disclosing the information.

Notifying women about their breast characteristics, not a disease, may sound like a simple change.

But for people who had fought for years for fuller disclosure of mammogram test results as well as the test’s limitations, the policy change marked a significant and potentially life-saving policy shift.