Our Indonesian partner Female Cancer Program (FCP) has set a goal of educating women (and men) nationwide, expanding care delivery to include cervical cancer screening, and transferring knowledge about the risks and prevention of this disease. This is easier said than done; geography (Indonesia consists of over 14.5 thousand islands and 250 million inhabitants) and culture (the country has the largest Muslim population in the world), among others, create a challenge for the creation of a national cervical cancer prevention program. Nevertheless, the FCP is working hard to reach all of Indonesia, from Batam in the West to Papua in the East. Recently, two new See & Treat projects were launched in Batam and Aceh, which were launched with training of local health workers.

The trainees in Batam, early May 2017

Clinical training in Aceh, beginning May 2017

Over the past year, Margit Vegter has supported several projects for FCF in Malawi, Kenya and Ethiopia. FCF has developed beautiful programs there with local partners, which have been expanded across multiple locations.

I feel privileged that I can now follow in her footsteps and contribute to a world without cervical cancer by doing so. I am a tropical doctor and have worked in several MSF missions in recent years. Working with FCF is going to be a special mission!

For the next three months, I will be supporting FCF projects in Africa, including Uganda and Ethiopia, as a physician. My first destination is Uganda, where we will be working with the local organization Uganda Rural Development Training program (URDT) to establish a new See & Treat project in southwestern Uganda. So next post from Uganda!