Cervical cancer is treatable.
Why are women in Haiti still dying from it?
This eye-opening question was posed by the Miami Herald several months ago.
“Cervical cancer is a disease that Haiti cannot afford. And in most cases, it’s a disease the country’s broken healthcare system cannot treat. There is just one MRI scanner in the entire country of 11 million people. Radiation treatment does not exist — for any kind of cancer — because there are no machines. Cancer screenings and early detection programs are limited, and so is access to lifesaving care.
In a country already struggling to manage maternal deaths and childhood diseases that have been largely controlled in other parts of the world, cervical cancer is nearly always a death sentence. Haitians who can afford to travel abroad for treatment have a fighting chance against advanced forms of the disease – but their numbers are few.
But cancer experts say it doesn’t have to be that way. Though cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths for women in Haiti, it is both preventable and treatable.”
For this very reason, World Wide Village is honored to be the first non-profit to participate in a national cervical cancer prevention program with Haiti sans Cervical Cancer and Family Health Ministries to begin screening women for HPV and treating early signs of cervical cancer for women in rural Haiti. To date, World Wide Village has screened 248 women in rural Haiti for HPV – Human Papillomavirus – which causes cervical cancer. The women who have been screened have been grateful for this opportunity. Of the first 248 women to be screened, 61 tested positive for HPV and had the opportunity to travel to Port-au-Prince and receive colposcopic treatment. This treatment saves lives.
“Most of those deaths, [caused by cervical cancer] researchers say, can be linked to poverty. In a country like Haiti, where most people live on less than $2 a day and many poor women often work as street vendors to keep families afloat, the deaths also have a ripple effect, sending more children to orphanages and accelerating the downward spiral of the already poor.”
We are so thankful to so many of you who have given to help launch this program to save the lives of women who are often the “poto mitan” or pillar of their families. Your generosity is saving the lives of women in Haiti. Thank you.
For as little as $15, a woman in rural Haiti can be screened and treated for cervical cancer. Please consider donating to healthcare in Haiti through World Wide Village today.
Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article217050190.html#storylink=cpy