The Female Cancer Foundation is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Founded by Prof. Lex Peters, gynecologist at Leiden University Medical Center, the foundation is committed to a world without cervical cancer. The results are overwhelming, although there is still much work to be done.
Every two minutes, somewhere in the world, a woman dies of cervical cancer. It is hard for us to imagine that in the Netherlands, because "the smear test" has reduced the disease tremendously in recent decades. Poignantly, 85% of women who die of cervical cancer live in developing countries, without access to proper care. Often these are (young) mothers who are the hub of the family. When they fall away, it has major consequences for their families and the local economy of the village where they live. Unnecessary, as this is preventable with limited resources.
The Female Cancer Foundation (FCF) has been successfully fighting this poverty-related disease for ten years with a relatively simple method. Lex Peters developed a simple and inexpensive program to do this, See & Treat: screen with vinegar and treat preventively with freezing (nitrogen).
Since then, millions of women in Bangladesh, the poor regions of Indonesia and several African countries have been educated, thousands have been screened and, if necessary, given immediate preventive treatment. FCF is committed to structural change in healthcare in developing countries. It does this by training local health workers. Only in this way can the founder's dream be realized: a world without cervical cancer.
For more information and press inquiries, contact the Female Cancer Foundation, phone 071 526 4636, or 06 235 19130 or email info@femalecancerfoundation.org