Protecting Women from Cervical Cancer Project

 
Cervical cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer. Yet, cevical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in Ghana.  This international project will help decrease premature deaths from this form of cancer.
 
In 2021 the Rotary Club of Eau Claire connected with Dr. Kofi Effah, Director of Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Centre (CCPTC) at Catholic Hospital Battor in Ghana. This led us to the Rotary Club of Accra-East and their work with Dr. Effah.
 
The world has been moving from old equipment that has made screening and prevention of cervical cancer difficult. The new devices and technology make it possible for middle care staff like nurses and midwives able to do a lot.
-- Dr. Kofi Effah
 
This project will purchase 50 cervical cancer treatment devices. Dr. Effah and his team from Catholic Hospital Battor have developed a cervical cancer detection training program for middle-level health care workers like nurses and midwives. The training program combined with new mobile treatment devices will, as stated by Dr. Effah,  "revolutionize" cervical cancer treatment in Ghana. Many thousands of women will be screened. More than 2,500 women a year will be treated. Unnecessary deaths will decrease.
 
 
Dr. Kofi Effah (left) and his team at Catholic Hospital Battor, 2018. Courtesy Catholic Hospital Battor.
 

Rotary Club of Accra-East
The Rotary Club of Accra-East has led Rotary efforts to support Dr. Kofi Effah's work to prevent cervical cancer in women in Ghana. In 2017 the club helped raise funds for a mobile colpscope. This device can be taken out into rural communities to screen women for cervical cancer. Now the club is working with the Rotary Club of Eau Claire to purchae 50 mobile thermal ablaters. Thermal ablaters are used by trained health care workers to treat cervical cancer when it is detected. LIke the mobile colpscope, the thermal ablaters can be taken out into rural communities to meet women in their homes.
 
 
Rotary Club of Accra-East, photo courtesy Catholic Hospital Battor
[The mobile colpscope] was a project that … was going to be the first ever in the history of Ghana and Sub-Sahara Africa … the team could go to the homes of our women and our young girls … and offer their screening services. As Rotarians, we need to take the opportunities to our community.  
-- Rotarian and Past President Gertrude Adzo Akpalu, Rotary Club of Accra-East