Physical Health Guatemala Project #2501

Prevent and Detect Cervical Cancer in Guatemala

by WINGS

Prevent and Detect Cervical Cancer in Guatemala

Project Report | Oct 18, 2018
We continue reaching the unreachable

By Oihane Benaran Munoz | Development Coordinator

Field Supervisor Dominga teaching in Chahal

At the end of September, WINGS organized a cervical cancer screening clinic in Chahal (department of Alta Verapaz), a Mayan Q’eqchi’ community where 86.71% of the population does not have access to electricity.*

The health post was very grateful for WINGS’ offer to provide free screenings in Chahal, as several barriers exist in the community for women to access reproductive health services. In fact, only the 9.68% of the economically active population are women,* which means most of them do not have the economic power to access health services. Moreover, the community is difficult to reach, as there is only a several-mile dirt road from the nearest village. Even though WINGS’ mobile units are prepared to handle these roads, local transportation is almost nonexistent and it is very unlikely for a woman to be able to travel on her own.

Thanks to WINGS’ visit, 7 women received a cervical cancer screening. This number may sound small, but it becomes bigger after learning that most of the women heard about cervical cancer for the first time during their screening with us. We are very proud of our medical team’s ability to provide comprehensive information about reproductive health in a community where illiteracy affects the 42% of the population.*

WINGS provides rights-based, patient-centered services, which means we treat every patient in a non-judgmental, non-coercive manner that provides ample education for each individual to make well-informed decisions. Each person receives comprehensive information about available contraceptive methods before they choose which one is right for them and can opt out at any moment if they change their minds. This is important in a context where not everyone has been informed of their rights in past medical treatments or they have not receive any treatments at all.

As part of our commitment to rights-based care, WINGS trains all our employees on not only technical aspects of care provision but on the communication skills needed to provide the highest level of care while respecting the patients’ rights. We hold quarterly trainings with our field staff to ensure that all levels of intervention are based wholly on respecting a patient’s rights to choose freely and responsibly how to experience their reproductive health.

* Source: Guatemalan Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency (SEGEPLAN), 2009.

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Aug 13, 2018
Getting screened for the first time

By Michelle Dubon | Medical Director at WINGS

Nurse Senayda explains how the screening is done

As the Medical Director for WINGS Guatemala, I am proud to present last year’s cervical cancer prevention results, which you can now check in our recently published 2017 Annual Report. In 2017 alone, we screened 3,345 women, we detected 135 positive cases, and we were able to treat 84 of them using cryotherapy.

As you may know, we use visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) to detect precancerous cells, an effective and simple method that allows us to deliver immediate results and treat some of the abnormalities straightaway. The VIA technique is recommended for women between the ages of 25 and 50, as this method may diagnose false positives in patients out of that age range. Last year, 872 women chose WINGS to get a cervical cancer screening for the first time. This means 26% of the women we examined had not been screened before the age of 25.

All women should begin to get cervical cancer screenings upon initiating sexual activity. However, according to the Guatemalan Ministry of Health, only 3.7% of women between 15 and 19 years has ever had a pap smear. This percentage increases to 24.8% in the age range between 20 and 24 years, and to 52.9% in ages 25-29, but it does not reach 70% until the age of 35. We find this data exceedingly worrying, as the average age of Guatemalan women’s first sexual intercourse is 15 (Ministry of Health, 2015).

WINGS offers free cervical cancer screenings in all our contraception and surgery clinics. We counsel our patients on the importance of taking care of themselves and how getting examined is part of that self-care. It takes a lot of courage to decide to have a cervical cancer screening if you have never done it before. Some of our patients hesitate to get screened, because they are afraid we might find abnormalities and that they might be too late to treat. It fills our hearts with joy every time a woman decides to take the plunge and have a VIA for the first time. This step is certainly essential to ensure their good health and peace of mind.

Thank you very much for supporting these brave women.

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May 16, 2018
#GetScreened

By Oihane Benaran Munoz | Development Coordinator

We are very pleased to present the initial results of our most recent campaign aimed at raising awareness for Guatemalan women to have cervical cancer screening. After seeing incredible engagement with our Guatemalans followers on Facebook, we launched the campaign #haztelaprueba (#getscreened) in March to encourage women to get screened regularly. We finished the campaign on May 10 and can proudly say it was resounding success: our Facebook posts reached more than 26,000 Guatemalans!

After every announcement we posted, we received several private messages asking questions regarding the procedure: “How does it work?”, “Do I get the results the same day?”, “Can I get cryotherapy treatment?”, or even “Is it really necessary that I get screened?” People wrote from different areas (Sacatepéquez, Quiché, Baja Verapaz and Guatemala City) and we successfully referred them to upcoming clinics or other resources in their communities.

We believe part of the success of this awareness campaign was talking about cervical cancer prevention while simultaneously addressing other subjects. The focus of the campaign was to show a vast diversity of uteruses (as shown in the picture) to let women know that they should get screened regardless of their medical record, sexual practices or personal situation. We tackled topics such as LGBT, teenage pregnancy, and indigenous culture, amongst others.

Approximately 1,500 Guatemalan women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year, and some groups are significantly more vulnerable to it. In fact, indigenous and rural territories are more likely to have restricted access to health services than urban areas, and homosexual and bisexual women get less routine sexual health care, even though they can also be exposed to HPV and cervical cancer.

The overwhelming response to this campaign shows the need to provide trustworthy information about cervical cancer prevention, as well as the need to pay particular attention to groups that may be more at risk of not being diagnosed on time.

In 2018 alone, we aim to provide 3,700 cervical cancer screenings, and thanks to your support, we know we are on the right path!

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