Towards a sustainable cervical cancer screening and prevention programme in Nepal
Cervical cancer is the leading cancer-related cause of death among women in Nepal. Locally, especially in rural areas, little is known about the disease and how easy it is to prevent.
In January 2018, in partnership with Karuna Foundation Nepal, we launched the Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention (CCSP) program to strengthen the national health care system and address cervical cancer. This program is taking place in different regions in Ilam and Sunsari districts of eastern Nepal. From the beginning, Karuna Foundation Nepal invested heavily in coordinating with the Nepalese government to ensure the sustainability of the program. A national guideline on cervical cancer prevention already existed, but the government lacked the capacity, financial resources and decisiveness to actually implement it.
Screening and training
The simultaneous stimulation of both demand and supply of screening and treatment has proved effective. Nurses have been trained to detect pre-stages of cervical cancer with vinegar using the See&Treat method. In addition, health workers and health care volunteers - they play an important role in health care in Nepal - have been trained on cervical cancer screening and prevention. They spread this knowledge within their communities and urge women to get screened at one of the health posts. In addition, screening camps (pop-up screening facilities) are organized in places where women have poor access to this form of medical care. Below in this video from Karuna Foundation you can see at a glance what our program looks like: