Organization: Basic Health International
Title: Evaluating an HPV Tandem Test for Cervical Cancer Screening and Genotyping Triage
Project Location: Mexico
Award: $95,000 for one year
Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality among women in Mexico. This project will develop and implement a training curriculum for low-cost, self-collected human papillomavirus (HPV) sampling and will provide treatment for those at high risk in an under-screened population. The successful completion of this project will provide a streamlined cervical cancer prevention strategy that minimizes overtreatment and loss to follow-up.
Organization: Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services
Title: From Mother-Daughter to Mother-Child Approach: A Strategy for Scaling Up HPV Vaccination in Cameroon
Project Location: Cameroon
Award: $95,000 for one year
This project will address cervical cancer in three urban, medically underserved neighborhoods in Cameroon by screening women ages 30 and over for cervical cancer and vaccinating their children against HPV. Expanding on a prior Foundation-funded project focused on mothers and daughters, this program will vaccinate both girls and boys against HPV, with the goal of preventing more HPV-related cancers. If successful, the mother-child model has the potential to be replicated in other countries where HPV vaccination hesitancy and misinformation are major concerns.
Organization: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title: Artificial Intelligence Decision Support for Timely Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Nigeria
Project Location: Nigeria
Award: $95,000 for one year
Compared to forty years ago, Nigeria has experienced a threefold increase in breast cancer incidence. This project will train Nigerian radiologists to use a tablet-based mobile breast ultrasound with AI support for timely diagnosis of breast cancer, to bridge the gap of limited diagnostic imaging in the country. AI accuracy will be assessed to determine its future use for breast cancer diagnosis in low-resource communities worldwide.
Organization: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Title: A Collaborative Breast Radiology Training Model for Early Breast Cancer Detection in Zambia
Project Location: Zambia
Award: $95,000 for one year
There are no formally trained breast radiologists in Zambia, and two-thirds of breast cancer diagnoses in the country occur at late stages, when treatment may be less effective. This project aims to improve breast cancer detection and survival in Zambia by using a novel international collaborative training model to train the country’s first specialized breast radiologists.
Organization: Hope for Haiti
Title: Improving Awareness, Screenings, and Treatment for Cervical and Breast Cancer in Haiti
Location of Project: Haiti
Award: $150,000 for two years
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in Haiti, yet sufficient screening is not widely available. This project will provide 34,000 free cervical and breast cancer screenings, organize bi-annual education campaigns and train 35 nurses and 45 community health workers to reduce mortality and morbidity rates.
Organization: KILELE Health Association
Title: Thamani Yetu – Engaging Communities to Improve Cervical Cancer Prevention and Early Detection in Mbeere North Sub County, Embu County, Kenya
Location of Project: Kenya
Award: $150,000 for two years
This project aims to reach 40,000 Kenyans by engaging with the community and providing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations, cervical cancer screenings and treatment. The program will also address myths and misconceptions and work with cancer survivors. These cervical cancer initiatives are intended to be replicated in other countries with hard-to-reach regions.
Organization: Grounds for Health
Title: Successful Implementation of HPV Self-Sampling in Rural Kenya
Location of Project: Kenya
Award: $75,000 for one year
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 of Project: El Salvador
Award: $75,000 for one year
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 of Project: El Salvador
Award: $75,000 for one year
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 of Project: Nepal
Award: $75,000 for one year
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 of Project: India
Award: $75,000 for one year
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).
Organization: Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services
Title: Cervical Cancer Prevention among Female Sex Workers in Urban Cities in Cameroon
Location of Project: Cameroon
Award: $75,000 for one year
Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in women in developing countries like Cameroon. This project will provide education, screening and treatment to female sex workers, who are vulnerable to cervical cancer and who are not likely to seek screening.
Organization: Duke University
Title: HOPE: Women Empowering Women to Adopt New Technologies for Cervical Cancer Screening
Location of Project: Peru
Award: $75,000 for one year
The project will implement an innovative model of healthcare delivery that is community-based, relying on women empowering women to be active agents of change in their own health care. This model gives women privacy and agency over cervical cancer screening, allowing 98 out of every 100 women to complete care at home.
Organization: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title: The Efficacy and Feasibility of Fecal Immunochemistry for Colorectal Cancer Screening in Nigeria
Location of Project: Nigeria
Award: $75,000 for one year
Colorectal cancer rates in Africa are rising, but there are limited data to guide screening in the region. This project will examine the accuracy and feasibility of a commonly used, inexpensive stool-based screening test as a vital step towards developing colorectal cancer screening programs in Africa.
Organization: Rice University
Title: Point-of-Care Isothermal HPV DNA Amplification Test for Cervical Cancer Screening in Mozambique
Location of Project: Mozambique
Award: $75,000 for one year
Cervical cancer screening remains a challenge in resource-limited settings. The project team is developing and evaluating a new cervical cancer screening test that has the potential to be low-cost and high-performance, compared with existing technologies.
Organization: Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública
Title: Feasibility of Colorectal Cancer Screening Based on Existing Primary Prevention Activities in Mexico City
Location of Project: Mexico
Award: $100,000 for one year
The program will promote awareness and provide colorectal cancer screening services in Mexico City, where colorectal cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths. This program aims to be a model for screening.
Organization: Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
Title: Cervical Cancer Prevention Project
Location of Project: Ghana
Award: $50,000 for one year
The project will focus on the prevention, screening and treatment of cervical cancer for women, including those living with HIV, in northwestern Ghana. They expect to screen 4,000 and raise awareness of cervical cancer and screening methods among tens of thousands of women.
Organization: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Title: Feasibility of Breast Cancer Screening in High-Risk Nigerian Women Using a Novel Low-Cost Device
Location of Project: Nigeria
Award: $100,000 for one year
High-risk or symptomatic Nigerian women will be provided with breast cancer education and traditional screening methods and will also be evaluated with a new hand-held portable device called the iBreast Exam. The data from these screenings will inform future screening efforts through a partnership with the Ministry of Health.
Organization: New York University School of Medicine
Title: Smartphone-Enhanced Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Algorithms Study Using HPV Testing in Africa (SE-CESTA)
Location of Project: South Africa
Award: $100,000 for one year
This project will screen 2,000 women for cervical cancer using smartphone-enhanced screening practices and an mHealth patient navigation platform. The results will fill critical research gaps in the current evidence for cervical cancer screening and secondary prevention in South Africa.
Organization: Radiological Society of North America
Title: Improving CT Lung Cancer Screening in Poland with QIBA Conformance Services
Location of Project: Poland
Award: $50,000 for one year
This country-wide project in Poland will use new cloud-based quantitative computed tomography (CT) imaging conformance certification services and CT image quality phantoms (test objects) at 16 new lung cancer screening sites to ensure that CT lung cancer screening is accurate and precise.
Organization: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Title: Addressing the Cervical Cancer Crisis in Mozambique through Training and Education for the Early Detection of Disease
Location of Project: Mozambique
Award: $200,000 for two years
Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, but in Mozambique it remains the number one cancer in women, and most are diagnosed in later stages. By increasing local provider capacity to screen for cervical cancer and manage precancerous changes, this project aims to protect women from developing invasive cancer. The program will provide hands-on training, education and ongoing telementoring to providers in Mozambique through Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Health Outcomes).
Organization: Radiological Society of North America
Title: Global Image Quality Monitoring and Optimization of CT Lung Nodule Imaging
Location of Project: 40 International Lung Cancer Screening Sites
Award: $50,000 for one year
With the ultimate goal of assuring high-quality lung cancer screening worldwide, this project is working to establish a standard for image quality across numerous international screening sites. To meet this goal, a novel image certification protocol will be implemented at sites performing low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening. Global certification is made feasible with the use of cloud-based tools, crowd-sourced data and a low-cost image quality assessment phantom (also called a test object).
Organization: SOS Children’s Village
Title: Save My Mother
Location of Project: Ghana
Award: $25,000 for one year
The Save My Mother project is focusing on the prevention, screening and treatment of cervical cancer among women in Ghana. With the Foundation support, the goal of the project is to screen 5,000 women at risk of cervical cancer and create awareness of cervical cancer among 30,000 men and women. There is an emphasis on reaching low-income women and women in low-resource communities. The project will utilize stakeholder partners to provide necessary follow-up care and treatment.
Organization: Matibabu Foundation
Title: Use of Mobile ODT® Devices to Improve Cervical Cancer Screening
Location of Project: Kenya
Award: $15,000 for one year
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer affecting women in Kenya after breast cancer. About 70-80 percent of cervical cancers in Kenya are diagnosed in later stages, indicating a great need for increased screening. With grant support from the Prevent Cancer Foundation®, new screening devices are being purchased to improve the quality of the cervical images and the diagnostic accuracy of screening. One thousand women will receive cervical cancer screening using these devices
