The introduction and piloting of a sustainable cervical cancer screening and prevention program in Sierra Leone
2021-2024: Sierra Leone, Makeni, Bombali district
Economically speaking, Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world. Although Sierra Leone is politically stable, the country is still recovering from a civil war. It also suffers from a lack of resources and well-trained personnel, partly due to the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2016 in which many well-trained medical professionals died. According to WHO figures, cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in the country. However, national guidelines for cervical cancer prevention and screening are lacking.
FCF is working with local partner World Hope International for this project.
Education
An important part of the project is education of the local population. It is essential to address persistent myths about cervical cancer and create more awareness among the local community. We will do this by sharing stories of experience from women who have had cervical cancer. This project will also look at what role media can play in education.
Training
The goal is to train local health workers so that they have the right knowledge and experience for screening. In addition, involving local health structures is important in the design and implementation of the project so that it can serve as an example and learning project. We are investigating how we can properly involve stakeholders in this and establish initial contacts for this.
Screening and treatment
Women are then screened (and treated) according to the See&Treat method. Here we use the single visit approach as much as possible; if a woman has a positive screening, she will be treated immediately, on the spot. The screening will take place at the clinic in Makeni and through a mobile team that visits health centers in rural areas. With this, we are exploring how screening can best be used in the local context of Sierra Leone.
The project in Sierra Leone was sponsored by the Church Foundation Franciscan Sisters of Charity.
