HPV and Cervical Cancer Prevention for West Africa

I was in a taxi passing the marketplace when I saw it: a bright blue dress with a looping yellow pattern worn by a woman disappearing into the crowd. The yellow pattern of interlocking uteruses, which could, at a quick glance, be mistook for a floral vine, is our HPV educational cloth, printed at COMATEX, the main Malian textile company. It is currently being worn on the streets of Bamako and distributed at 5 health clinics where cervical cancer screening is offered free to all women!

Our campaign is called “Sensibilisation”, meaning community education. By working through cultural communication channels like well-loved radio programming for women, community health workers, and influential women leaders, we have increased screening rates at the five participating clinics by over 6 fold. In Mali, where 44 out of every 100 thousand women die of cervical cancer, spreading information about the importance of screening will not only save women’s lives, it will prevent children losing a parent, and ensure that communities know the importance of HPV vaccination once the vaccine is widely available.

As for the fabric pattern, does it work? Although we only have preliminary data from a questionnaire given to women seeking screening, the numbers speak for themselves! Of all the women who had seen the cloth, 87% correctly identified the images in the pattern. This means our peer educators are doing an excellent job explaining the cloth, and our doctors and midwives are working hard to make sure women are referred for screenings. Everyone is doing their part to fight cervical cancer!

Not only is GAIA covering the cost of cervical cancer screening and the educational campaign, we are also providing biopsies to women who test positive for pre-cancerous lesions and free referrals for treatment so that they can enjoy a cancer-free future.

As a long-time supporter of this initiative, you have seen our long-dreamt of plans become life-saving realities. However, without your continued support, this program will run out of funding in September. Please consider making a gift so that we can keep offering life saving treatment to women in Mali. You can learn more about getting a piece of the cloth yourself by visiting our website: http://www.gaiavaccine.org/get-cloth/

We are infinitely grateful for your support,

As you know, GAIA Vaccine Foundation has lead multiple research projects on HPV in Mali. From surveying people about their current understanding of the virus, to collecting biopsy samples to determine what strains of HPV are causing cervical cancers among the Malian population, GAIA has left no stone unturned in our quest to bring the HPV vaccine to Mali.

Now we are launching our research on an even larger scale: for six months we will be running community education sessions using GAIA's signature HPV cloth. We will be supplying five clinics and training medical staff and peer educators to administer our survey and perform cervical cancer screenings.

We want blow cervical cancer screening rates through the roof for all of 2015! 

After arriving in Bamako last week, it's been so exciting to see all of our long-planned ideas come to fruition. We will begin recording radio programs to be broadcast all over the city next week! Our peer educators and medical staff from the five clinics will be trained by the Regional Health Director, DRS, the following week. Our cloth has already been sent to be printed at the premier Malian Textile company, COMATEX!

Please consider contributing your support as we begin this abitious project. Your donation could allow us to continue supplying the five clinics with cervical cancer screening materials after the 6 month period, and this would greatly increase Malian women's access to screenings.

Together we can fight cervical cancer! 

I will be sending out photos later this week!