ECOM and Grounds for Health team up to fight cervical cancer

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ECOM FOUNDATION AND NON-PROFIT TEAM UP TO FIGHT CERVICAL CANCER

ECOM Foundation awards Grounds for Health with a two-year $75,000 grant to deepen current prevention programs in Nicaragua and establish new programs in Peru.

Waterbury, VT  – The ECOM Foundation has awarded Grounds for Health a two-year $75,000 grant to bolster its work in establishing sustainable and effective cervical cancer prevention and treatment programs in coffee-growing communities. This grant will make it possible for the Vermont-based non-profit to deepen existing prevention programs in Nicaragua and expand to new program sites in Peru.

Grounds for Health has been establishing community-driven, locally sustainable programs to prevent cervical cancer in rural coffee-growing areas since 1996. The organization focuses on training local doctors and nurses how to prevent the onset of cervical cancer through early screening and same-day treatment of pre-cancerous cells. Over the past 16 years, Grounds for Health programs have been responsible for screening more than 34,000 women (and counting) for this deadly yet preventable disease. Most exciting is the fact that almost half of these women were screened by local healthcare professionals who had been trained by Grounds for Health. The skills and services that these doctors and nurses have gained will remain in the community for years to come, keeping prevention services locally managed and maintained.

August Burns, Executive Director of Grounds for Health praises the ECOM Foundation for its generous and consistent support: “ECOM is a true partner to the work of Grounds for Health. Their financial support is augmented by their invaluable direct assistance when we are traveling in producing communities. We are proud and grateful to have such an engaged and committed partner in this work.”

Grounds for Health strives to have a lasting impact by focusing on training local doctors and nurses an affordable, replicable and sustainable cervical cancer screening and treatment method called the Single Visit Approach. To date, Grounds for Health has trained more than 250 local doctors and nurses in this same-day screening model, as well as 400 community health promoters. All these individuals have the skills necessary to carry on this important work in their own communities, potentially reaching tens of thousands of women in the future.

“In our commitment to providing a positive and permanent change in producing communities, the ECOM Foundation is proud to continue its long-term partnership with Grounds for Health in the fight against cervical cancer,” remarked Carol Livingstone Salaiz, the ECOM Foundation Chairman of the Board. “Together, we can expand our global reach and create the synergy needed to provide the best opportunities for success.”

Since its founding in 2006, the ECOM Foundation has been a consistent and strong supporter of Grounds for Health. ECOM’s stated goal and purpose is to help improve the lives of coffee and other soft commodity producers; the Foundation is committed to long-term sustainability that will provide a permanent change in these communities. With this grant from the ECOM Foundation, Grounds for Health is making progress towards realizing those goals.