Our Approach
Our Approach
Democratic Republic
of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has one of the highest women’s cancer death rates in the world. Cervical and breast cancers are responsible for 50% of the country’s cancer-related deaths. Low levels of awareness, lack of a cancer control workforce, and the absence of a national organized cancer care service infrastructure are the major underlying reasons for this tragic but modifiable situation.
Zambia
Zambia has the third highest cervical cancer rates in the world. Although the government has adopted a robust cervical cancer prevention program, and breast early detection platforms have been initiated, the vast majority of adult women have not yet been screened for cervical cancer and access to primary care level facilities that evaluate women with breast symptoms are very limited.
Malawi
Malawi has the second highest age-standardized cervical cancer incidence rates in the world. Cancer of the cervix is also the commonest cause of cancer-related death among women in Malawi. Presently the country does not have the capacity to provide radiation therapy services.
Sierra Leone
Women’s cancers (cervix and breast) represent half of all newly diagnosed cancers and cancer-related deaths in women, and both are increasing. Breast cancer in Sierra Leone accounts for the heaviest cancer burden among adult women. Less than 10,000 women in the country have ever been screened for cervical cancer.
Rwanda
Like many low- and middle- income countries, Rwanda is now confronted with a rapidly growing problem of non-communicable diseases, primary among them cancers of the cervix and breast, its two most common adult malignancies. Cancer screening, early detection and treatment services in the country are limited, resulting in most women presenting with advanced stage malignancies at the time of eventual diagnosis. This results in shortened survival and high mortality rates. The need for mid- and high- level health providers in the area of cancer control is critical and paramount.
Where We Work
We work in some of the most challenging regions of Africa to bring critical cancer care to the continent’s most vulnerable women.
Africa by the numbers
85
More than 85 percent of women in Africa have never been screened for cervical or breast cancer.
20
An estimated 20% of the world's cervical cancers are diagnosed in Africa.
15
In Africa, a child whose mother dies is 15 times more likely to die before his or her 10th birthday than a child whose mother is alive.
6
The risks of cervical cancer in HIV-infected women are 6 times greater than in women who are not HIV-infected.