The Female Cancer Foundation aims to wipe cervical cancer off the face of the earth. Since the disease is caused by a sexually transmissible virus (HPV), this is not an utopian dream but a real possibility. To achieve this, the FCF contributes to poverty alleviation by informing women about (sexual) reproductive health, by screening and, if necessary, treating young mothers from the lowest socio-economic classes for (preliminary stages of) cervical cancer with the See & Treat-method. This method is very easy, cheap and accessable and therefor the most effective method for low resource settings. This concept consists of informing (awareness), screening and training health care professionals and, last but not least, establishing firmly, i.e. embedding in the local community. The See & Treat concept uses a very simple approach. Local health care professionals use acetic acid (tafel azijn) to examine (with the naked eye) women for visible white-coloured abnormalities of the cervix
- the Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) method. If necessary, the opening of the uterus is treated with cryotherapy (freezing) immediately after the screening. The simplicity of the examination allows patients to be screened and treated during a single visit (single visit approach). This approach has turned out to be indispensable in developing countries. Experience has taught us that many women do not turn up for a follow-up appointment: they are often indispensable to those around them, or there are financial, social or cultural barriers to a second visit. The Pap test ("het uitstrijkje"), which is common in many countries, is therefore not the most efficient method, since the cells of the cervix that are gathered during what is referred to as a โsmearโ have to be analyzed in a laboratory, and women have to return for the results at a later stage. Moreover, it is expensive to train people to evaluate smears. In the FCF projects, the screening, treatment and the information that is provided within the scope of the See & Treat programme are free of charge. Both the treatment and physical examination are well suited to situations where there are few facilities and materials. A laboratory and electricity are not required. Moreover, the VIA method is easy to learn and implement by local health care providers. Moreover, cryotherapy does not require any anaesthetics. The low cost of the screening and treatment render the See & Treat a cost-effective programme, which can best be applied in low resource areas. The FCF works according to the โtrain the โtrainerโ principle in its educational programmes. This strengthens the sustainable character of the projects and contributes to local capacity development. Not only is the (medical) knowledge of the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer of local healthcare professionals expanded and intensified in this way, experience and know-how at a management and organizational level is also passed on. Finally, local government must take over the programme in order to render the See & Treat method sustainable. Lobbying and advocacy is vital for this. With its projects, the Female Cancer Foundation seeks to improve the position of women permanently (female empowerment) and, ultimately, to contribute to gender equality in the poorest communities. With the prevention of cervical cancer FcF is guaranteeing the vital contributions which the women with young children make to the largely unstable local economies. Moreover, this concerns women who are in their reproductive years. If these women were to contract cervical cancer, this would have a huge impact on economy and socially.
