Prevent and Detect Cervical Cancer in Guatemala

At the end of November, WINGS held a jornada or clinic day in the community of Santo Domingo Xenacoj in the department of Chimaltenango, about an hour away from our Antigua headquarters. In most jornadas where we provide Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARCs), we also offer cervical cancer screening using visual inspection with acetic acid for immediate detection of cervical cell abnormalities and same-day treatment using cryotherapy for pre-cancerous cells that may lead to cervical cancer. For these jornadas, we travel hours each day to get to hard-to-reach rural villages with an entire mobile unit team, consisting of a driver, two nurses, and equipment to serve up to 150 women per week.

In small communities, where our staff anticipates fewer patients, we usually schedule what we call a mini-jornada – a clinic with two WINGS nurses who pack all the necessary equipment in backpacks and travel to the (easier-to-reach) village, usually by bus, expecting to serve no more than 10 women, and without the extra weight of the cryotherapy equipment. In Santo Domingo Xenacoj though, our two nurses Carolina and Nely met with 23 women!

In addition to the subdermal implants and IUDs that were provided that day, we screened 10 women for cervical cancer, 3 of whom we needed to refer for cryotherapy in our clinic a few days later. Nurse Carolina remarked how much it meant to her to be able to provide this life-saving procedure to the three women, none of whom had ever had a cervical cancer screening before.

It is with your support that WINGS continues to be able to offer cervical cancer screening to women who might otherwise have limited or no access to such an important test. We are so very grateful to you!

In May of this year, we visited El Mora, a community of the department of Escuintla in Guatemala where we had first made contact in March of this year and where a previous educational talk was given for future clinic days. This is an area where the women leaders of the Catholic Church play a significant role in community leadership. In that first contact, they let it be known quite clearly that they were only interested in WINGS providing rapid screenings for cervical cancer and expressed their distinct rejection for contraceptive methods. 

During the May visit, despite the common logistical challenges involved in nearly every clinical set-up, WINGS successfully held a cervical cancer clinic in the Catholic church in El Mora. The leader in charge of the church, besides showing her interest for the conservation of privacy, the importance of the follow-up and the attention of the nurses, showed a surprisingly supportive attitude for our work. WINGS, in our approach to underserved communities, has managed to create a relationship of trust with community leaders who are our greatest allies so that we can take our services to the individuals who need us most. 

Having a clinic in a Catholic church, with the support of community leaders, is a HUGE step for WINGS. After the success of the cervical cancer-screening clinic, WINGS staff was delighted to get the call to schedule a future contraceptive method clinic. We are so excited to see where this relationship might lead in El Mora and beyond.

We have learned over time that creating this relationship of trust requires continuous, unflagging efforts; especially in those communities where culturally there is more rejection for the contraceptive methods that we provide. 

Your support means that we have the resources and highly trained staff necessary to do this life-saving work. We appreciate your commitment to help us make a difference for so many women and their families.