Our E-Club International Committee supported the  Rotary Club of Sinkora Liberia and the Liberia Cancer Society  by  providing $1000 for screening and treatment equipment. Above is the presentation of a check for $1500 to the Liberian Cancer Society.  This all could be made possible because of the generous donations of club members to our club foundation:RESCUSA.  Happy Bucks and Change for Change have been one way we have increased our foundation.  Thank you members of the Rotary E-Club. 

The following is information is from the Liberia Cancer Society.  

 

 

In Liberia, cervical cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths in women, accounting for more than 40% of all women’s cancer and about two-thirds of cancer deaths. Cervical Cancer ranks as the leading cause of female cancer in Liberia and is the most common female cancer in Liberian women aged 15 to 44 years according to www.hpvcentre.net . Screening and preventive care are crucial to early diagnosis of cervical cancer. Currently cancer treatment are being left to the private sector which makes it difficult for women of lower wealth quintile and remote areas who are affected by the disease to access quality services.

Cervical cancer is largely preventable, but women need to be screened every three to five years to halt the deadly disease. In Liberia, most health

 

cancer is largely preventable, but women need to be screened every three to five years to halt the deadly disease. In Liberia, most health centers are unable to provide cervical cancer care and prevention. Patients who are diagnosed of cervical cancer at its advanced stage are referred to John F. Kennedy Medical Center (Liberia’s largest hospital) for further management.

According to data from Ministry of Health of all those referred to JFK only a few patients go there.  Many are left to die in pain at home due to lack of palliative care and limited resources.

 

There is limited information on the cervical cancer available to women in Liberia. Cervical cancer will continue to go undiagnosed and untreated if no urgent effort for an adequate outreach program for screening and treatment of the disease in early stage is done  for  rural women in lower wealth quantile who are the engine of the Liberian small economy.  Due to limited access to education on cervical cancer it is blamed on witchcraft that only need intervention by traditional healers. For those that have been able to go to health centers and tested positive of the disease, the main word they heard was that they have been diagnosed with ‘cancer’, and according to them, cancer is not treatable which means they are condemned to go home and wait for the final day that they will die!

 

Opportunities:

The launched of WHO Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer in November of 2020 served as a great and unique opportunity for countries including Liberia and partners to work collectively in ending Cervical Cancer .This strategy is hitched on  three key steps: vaccination, screening and treatment. Successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40% of new cases of the disease and related deaths by 2050.

. The targets is that by 2030 all countries on the path toward elimination:

  • 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by 15 years of age
  • 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by age 35 and again by 45
  • 90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment (90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed).

The strategy also stresses that investing in the interventions to meet these targets can generate substantial economic and societal returns.

Ending cervical cancer would have once seemed an impossible dream, but we now have the cost-effective, evidence-based tools to make that dream a reality. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease. It is also curable if detected early and adequately treated

However, there are several cost-effective and evidence based tools for early detection and treatment of cervical cancer which include: Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) and Visual Inspection with Lugol’s Iodine (VILI).

In Liberia, Nimba, Bassa, and Margibi counties are said to be the counties where higher cases of cervical cancers are reported and, in most cases, they are identified at the late stage at which time the prognosis is poor.  Predicated upon this, the Liberian government has embarked on HPV vaccination program as a primary prevention mechanism targeting girls between the ages of 9- 15 years beginning 2019.  This was initiated following a pilot which was done in Bong and Nimba in 2017.  However, there is no national secondary prevention program aimed at screening for early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions   in women at risk, most of whom will be without symptoms.

There is no national pre-cancerous lesions that can be treated with ablative procedures such as cryotherapy, thermo-coagulation or excisional procedures such as Loop electrosurgical excisional procedure (LEEP) also known as large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) or cone biopsy.

Although there is no national screening and early detection program, the Government of Liberia now has in place a cervical cancer policy which has provided a legal framework for cervical cancer interventions in country. This calls for integrating cervical cancer interventions with existing high impact programs such as other reproductive health services such family planning, immunization among others.  Also, there is a national HPV vaccination that has been introduced into the routine immunization schedule for all girls nine years of age. With the introduction of HPV Vaccine into routine immunization program, the population is now getting to know about HPV and its links with Cervical cancer as such many people are eager to get screen for cervical cancer

For settings where resources are not available or are limited and where there are high rates of loss to follow up, screen and-treat without diagnostic confirmation is recommended.

In lieu of the above, Public Health Initiative Liberia (PHIL) and NGO, in February 2020 launched  “See and Treat” cervical cancer mobile outreach program that uses Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) for screening and C3 Coagulation device for treatment of precancerous cervical cancer in one day visit.

The “See and Treat” program being run by PHIL is using innovative tools cutting -edge cost effective tools which cost about $6,273.77 USD (total).

The two tools used / required for serving the populace are mobile: The Colposcope EVA Plus device from Mobile ODT (from Israel) is used to view the cervix, take the image and upload online to a database for reporting and data management which costs $2,889.00 USD. While the C3 mobile coagulation device being used for treatment of cervical cancer was bought from WISSAP Technology in Germany for $3,384.77 USD inclusive of shipment to Liberia.

Investment in health should be an essential tool for development, rather than a luxury, as I know, the Rotary Club will agree.

Thank you again for contacting and extending yourself to us which we sincerely appreciate. We look forward to working with you. Together, LET’S CANCEL CANCER.

Yours Sincerely,

Dana Hilton van Ee              

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