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Despite the pandemic, Grounds for Health started 2021 with some of our best results ever. From January to March of this year, we screened 5,451 women and treated 485, which represented the most we've ever done in a single quarter. These remarkable results are due to the growth of our programs – we now support services in 50 health centers – and the hard work of our staff, trained providers, and community health educators.
Read below for detailed updates from Kenya and Ethiopia, and keep an eye out for our July fundraiser to kick start our 25th anniversary celebrations. More to come ...
- Kyle
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The Ethiopian government recently mandated that health centers screen five women per day and hospitals screen ten women per day for cervical cancer. This initiative combined with raised awareness has increased demand for services like ours, which is encouraging for our programs and for the country.
We are helping health centers and hospitals in Oromia reach their quotas by hosting mini-campaigns and reaching out to larger numbers of women. Clinical Specialist Demis Berhan spent one week at Bule Hora Hospital, where providers screened 125 women, treating all 7 who tested positive for precancer. Another week, he was at a health center in West Guji, where they screened 58 women on the first day.
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There were more women lined up for the ensuing days, but they had to cut the campaign short because of anti-government demonstrations. These kinds of setbacks are part of our work, but thankfully everyone is safe.
Overall Demis is hopeful and encouraged because he notices that people are much more aware and focused on cervical cancer due to the government attention on the issue. People are hearing about it on the radio and television, and women are coming to health centers eager to get services. The most encouraging point is that uptake is best in rural communities, where women really trust the health care workers and are grateful for this service.
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SNNP and Sidama, Ethiopia
This region is not facing the same security issues of Oromia, but it is starting to see significantly more cases of COVID and experiencing deaths in the city of Hawassa. Remarkably, women are still coming for cervical cancer prevention services.
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Country Coordinator Ashenafi Argata was recently in Wonsho District, which is where our program began, for a four-day campaign where they screened 113 women and treated 13. Though the COVID situation is frightening and makes the work more challenging, it is also giving Ashe more purpose and joy in his work as he can provide meaningful education and impact to help families avoid COVID while continuing his work to save women’s lives from cervical cancer.
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Nyeri County, Kenya
After a bad stretch with rising cases and hospitalizations, COVID is thankfully going down in Nyeri County. Our team has resumed quarterly feedback meetings with the community health volunteers (CHVs), where they discuss any education or messaging needs in the community, learn how many women have been recruited for services, and help with any misinformation or barriers that come up.
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"I didn’t have any symptoms, I didn’t even think I was sick… But I found out from this screening that I needed treatment and now everything is OK."
From a woman who was referred to Nyeri County Referral Hospital for LEEP treatment. She returned to the health center to thank her healthcare providers and is now recruiting women from the community!
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The team also recently had two campaigns in Mukerweini Hospital, where 97 and 98 women were screened each day and women with positive results were treated. When our team has a campaign like this one, they borrow the thermal ablation treatment device that we donated to Nyeri Town Health Center and bring it along so that treatment can be fast and effective. Our team is looking forward to the day when we can afford a thermal ablation machine dedicated specifically to outreach campaigns!
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Thank You, Auction Donors and All Bidders!
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