This summer, we are bringing healthcare #wheresheis

Thanks to the creativity of our clinical teams on the ground, we are taking full advantage of the newest screening technology to reach even more women with limited access to cervical cancer screening. 

These ideas circulated after an exciting meeting with both teams in Ethiopia and Kenya where we asked ourselves how we can we reach more women if we give them the option of sampling themselves for HPV. We tossed around all the possibilities of going #wheresheis —women’s workplaces, coffee co-ops, markets, church basements, community centers and schools. 

This summer, with the help of coffee companies and people like you, we are bringing test kits to many of these exciting new locations. Watch the 50 second video below. 

We started with an open-air market in Kenya in January and found that women enthusiastically embraced the ‘test-on-the-go’ model. We had community health volunteers announce the free HPV screenings (image below) and throughout the afternoon, women lined up to be screened.  

Only a few minutes later, they returned to work and told their friends at neighboring vegetable stalls and market shoppers about their experience and what they had learned about cervical cancer. Our team quickly realized that with HPV self-sampling, we have so much flexibility.

The only barrier now is cost. HPV test kits are more expensive than the supplies needed to perform VIA, our traditional screening approach. VIA screening only requires vinegar and cotton, and can only be done through a pelvic exam. This makes it less appealing to women, less efficient and less accessible given the space and location requirements.  
  
We believe there is power in women taking their health into their own hands. We’d like this model to grow in Ethiopia and Kenya and we firmly believe that the adoption of HPV self-sampling across the globe will get us closer to our dream of the elimination of cervical cancer.

To become an official sponsor of this campaign – reach out! Or, make a donation here.  You can contribute to the wellbeing of women and their communities today. 

Written by Ellen Starr, Executive Director