The following blog post was written by Solomiya Teterichko, our Medical Brigades Program Advisor in Ghana and originally posted on her personal blog “scienceandculture”, which you can find here.
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On March 19, 2012 University of Chicago, a group of 11 students and 8 health care professionals, piloted VIA- a visual inspection method for cervical cancer screening in Ekumfi Asokwa.
Cervical screenings through pap smear cytology is often difficult in a mobile clinic setting where resources are low and time is a constraint. VIA allows us get accurate results in less than 5 minutes with supplies that cost less than 5 cents a test.
The exam consists of the application of 3% to 5% acetic acid on the cervix after which abnormal results can be visualized within minutes. The only required supplies are speculums, a bottle of vinegar and cotton swabs.
Community sensitization for the screenings was a huge aspect of the initiative. A community nurse worked closely with Dr. Noelle Dowling to help educate on the importance of cervical cancer screening and what early detection can mean to their future.
Within only 3 days, the group was able to screen over 80 women, our highest volume in the OB-GYN station yet.
What are our next steps? For now, with about 8 positive results, we refer these patients to the local regional hospital where our colleague Dr. Adu will see to their follow up. I think we can do more than this though. Ideally, the treatment of these positive results can be as quick and easy as the screening itself.
Cryotherapy is a quick and low-tech procedure that destroys precancerous tissue through cryonecrosis. The procedure itself takes less that 20 minutes and requires only 3 tools: a cryogun, cryoprobes and a canister of carbon dioxide OR nitrous oxide. Paired with the VIA screening- this program will give our communities the opportunity to not only be screened but also treated.
With the help of Dr. Noelle Dowling and Global Brigades, our immediate steps are to initiate a fundraising campaign for the required cryotherapy equipment. The equipment will ideally be housed and cared for by Dr. Adu in the regional hospital with the intention of being used on brigade sites and post-brigade during follow up visits- all free of charge.
In addition to providing this service to our community members we would also be, for the first time, opening up this opportunity to the whole Central Region of Ghana as this would be the only cryotherapy equipment to perform such procedures in the region.
Isn’t this what we are all about? We do more than just provide certain services to a handful of rural communities. I think our strength comes from the connection that we are able to make between rural community members and health services that have already been established and available to a specific sector of the Ghanaian population. With this initiative we are not only providing further services to the 7 communities we are currently present in but we are helping equip the public health providers and connect them to a part of a population that has often been secluded from existing public health benefits.
Please stay tuned to join our fundraising efforts for the cryotherapy initiative and to hear a few words from Dr. Noelle Dowling herself!
Thank you Noelle Dowling and Lori Brown for doing such an amazing job with piloting this program on our medical brigades in Ghana. Thank you Noelle Dowling for putting together the VIA & Cryotherapy Handbook, which will help guide us through the success of this initiative. Thank you University of Chicago students and all healthcare professionals that came to Ekumfi Asokwaa- it has been a true privilege and inspiration.
To learn more about VIA initiatives visit Afrox– an organization based in Ghana that has already made strides in VIA and cryotherapy.
