In Africa, 34 out of every 100 000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 23 out of every 100 000 women die from cervical cancer every year. In Africa, most of these women are diagnosed at advanced stage of cancer which is associated with poor outcomes. Cervical cancer is the top cause of cancer death for women in many African countries, with 29 of 37 countries where it’s the leading cause of cancer death being in sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, in Africa, many women do not know about cervical cancer, cancer screening availability, or treatment programs. Most African countries only offer visual inspection or Pap screening and lack effective treatment programs. In majority of cases they are unable to offer follow-up care for cancers detected by the Pap test or the HPV test. This is unfortunate as cervical cancer is preventable when detected early.
Given these facts, the Cervical Cancer Foundation seeks to increase the abilities of healthcare providers and resources in diagnosing, managing, and treating cervical diseases. The foundation also works to increase capacity by offering specialized training in HPV-related diseases. This includes (1) collaborating with non-profit organizations to lobby legislative stakeholders to increase support for HPV vaccination and secondary cervical cancer prevention (2) training health educators to use the With Love We Learn Program to educate the community on the importance of Pap or HPV screening tests and the vaccine (3) providing cervical cancer prevention strategies within these countries.
The With Love We Learn Program has been sponsored by the American Cancer Society’s South Atlantic Division. We hope to use the model previously used to train health educators in African countries with high rates of cervical cancer.
Cervical Cancer Foundation has prioritized primary HPV testing using self-collection or Auto-toma as a screening modality for these countries to increase identification of women at risk for cervical cancer and the use of digital colposcopy or traditional colposcopy as diagnostic procedures to identify abnormal cells requiring treatment. Cervical Cancer Foundation has provided diagnostic and treatment tools to non-profit collaborators in these countries to facilitate detection of abnormal cells that can lead to cancer. Become one of our partners by supporting us through funds or joining us on our international outreach opportunities to teach and assist with providing cervical cancer prevention strategies to reach the WHO goal of cervical cancer elimination as a public health issue by 2030.
