What is MSF doing to address cervical cancer?
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provided cervical cancer care across five main projects in 2019.
Zimbabwe
In Gutu, Zimbabwe, MSF screens women for abnormalities and pre-cancerous lesions using visual inspection with acetic acid and cervicography (VIAC). Our teams provide on-the-spot treatment with cryotherapy for pre-cancerous lesions and refer women for surgery or radiotherapy as required.
Philippines
MSF works in partnership with the local non-governmental organization Likhaan to provide cervical cancer screening and cryotherapy alongside other sexual and reproductive health services in the capital Manila. In 2017, we vaccinated 22,000 girls aged between 9 and 13 against HPV.
Eswatini
MSF began providing VIA screening and cryotherapy in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) in 2016. Until handing over the project to the Ministry of Health in 2019, MSF supported training for nurses and piloted a mobile health and telemedicine program for nurse-led diagnosis.
Mali
In the capital, Bamako, MSF runs an oncology project, including cervical cancer care. Since 2018, we have offered palliative care and support services at Point G University Hospital and in patients’ homes. In 2020, we also began supporting screening services for women in Bamako.
Malawi
MSF’s comprehensive cervical cancer project in Chiradzulu and Blantyre, Malawi, provides HPV vaccination, VIA screening and pre-cancer treatments. Case management includes palliative care, as well as surgery, which commenced with the opening of an operating theater in November 2019.
Addressing the gap in palliative care
MSF continues to see women in their 40s and 50s come in too late for effective treatment, and diagnosed with advanced cancer. They may have been suffering for some time in a community where little is known about cervical cancer. They may have spent considerable money seeking care for unexplained symptoms, or struggled financially as it became harder to work. Their cancer may be disfiguring and stigmatizing—leaving them even more socially isolated.
The burden of cervical cancer has created an enormous need for palliative care, a gap that MSF has recognized in its efforts to reduce suffering.
In Mali’s capital, Bamako, we support a program of hospital- and home-based palliative care in one of the only hospitals in the capital with this type of service. Some 50 percent of the patients travel there from outside the city. The service covers prevention and management of symptoms, pain relief, and psychosocial and spiritual support. Women are also treated for the side effects of chemotherapy, non-cancer disorders, and wounds caused by tumors.
Twice a week, the team also travels to the homes of patients, often so destitute or unwell that they simply cannot go to the hospital.