Prevent Cancer Foundation® awards $375,000 in global grants to combat cervical cancer
Alexandria, Va. – The Prevent Cancer Foundation® announces funding for five new cervical cancer prevention and early detection projects in low- or middle-income countries in support of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) call for the elimination of cervical cancer by 2030. Cervical cancer is highly preventable and treatable when found early, yet women worldwide lack access to the prevention and screening tools necessary to protect them. The Foundation is proud to support these projects through its global grants program, which focuses on assessing innovative technologies and delivering services and/or education to improve or expand quality cancer screening or prevention.
Programs in Kenya, El Salvador, Nepal, and India will use these one-year $75,000 grants to increase cervical cancer prevention and screening. The projects will have a direct impact where cancer prevention and early detection resources are limited, and several projects will partner with COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts to maximize access and meet vulnerable populations where they already are.
The following 2021 global cancer prevention grants are made possible by Awesome Games Done Quick, a speedrunning video game marathon that raises funds for the Prevent Cancer Foundation:
Organization: Grounds for Health
Title: Successful Implementation of HPV Self-Sampling in Rural Kenya
Location: Kenya
Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is endorsed by the WHO as the preferred screening method to end cervical cancer worldwide. This project will allow Grounds for Health to expand its HPV self-sampling initiative, a widely accepted HPV testing method, as part of their efforts to identify best practices in service delivery in low-resource settings.
Organization: Basic Health International
Title: Feasibility of Thermal Ablation for Cervical Precancer Treatment
Location: El Salvador
Cervical cancer screening must be linked to effective and timely treatment of precancerous lesions for the best possible outcomes. This project will evaluate thermal ablation, a new portable treatment that could increase access to care for women in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
Organization: Basic Health International
Title: Shifting PCR Testing Capacity from COVID-19 to Cervical Cancer Prevention
Location: El Salvador
This project investigates the feasibility of a new low-cost, self-collected, rapid HPV screening test that is processed in the same polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines that were acquired for COVID-19 testing. Same-day screening results in combination with portable cervical precancer treatment have the potential to greatly increase access to cervical cancer prevention for medically-underserved populations.
Organization: Cancer Care Nepal
Title: A Cervical Cancer Prevention Training Program for Nepal
Location: Nepal
Cervical cancer is the most common cancer among women in Nepal. This project will implement a new program to train nurses and doctors on the necessary screening tests to identify precancerous cervical lesions and the treatment procedures to prevent progression to cancer.
Organization: Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
Title: Preventing Cervical Cancer Through Low-Cost HPV Testing Approaches in Low-Resource Settings of India
Location: India
Access to cervical cancer screening in India is not widespread. This project will work with community partners to assess the feasibility of using low-cost HPV self-testing as a screening method in three diverse settings (rural poor, urban slums and tribal villages).
In addition to supporting global projects, the Prevent Cancer Foundation funds cancer prevention and early detection research grants and fellowships, as well as community grants in the U.S.
About the Prevent Cancer Foundation®
The Prevent Cancer Foundation® is celebrating 35 years as the only U.S. nonprofit organization focused solely on saving lives across all populations through cancer prevention and early detection. Through research, education, outreach and advocacy, we have helped countless people avoid a cancer diagnosis or detect their cancer early enough to be successfully treated.
The Foundation is rising to meet the challenge of reducing cancer deaths by 40% by 2035. To achieve this, we are committed to investing $20 million for innovative technologies to detect cancer early and advance multi-cancer screening, $10 million to expand cancer screening and vaccination access to medically underserved communities, and $10 million to educate the public about screening and vaccination options.
For more information, please visit www.preventcancer.org.