Help 1000 Bali Women Gain Health & Life Skills

The women's banjar (or traditional council) in the nearby village of Singkerta heard about Bumi Sehat's cryo program, which checks women for any pre-cancerous cervical cells and removes them by freezing and burning them out. The group approached Bumi Sehat about having an outreach health talk on cervical and breast cancer and prevention programs in their village. Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death for older women in Indonesia.

Bumi Sehat had not previously done any outreach to nearby villages as our monthly cryo clinics are usually full with women from the Nyuh Kuning banjar—Bumi Sehat's home village. However, this is a valuable and life-saving technology and we want to expand our services.

Our midwives and outreach officer spoke to around 15 women in Singakerta. A few days later, 30 women signed up for the next cryo clinic—the 15 who attended plus female family members. As each clinic is limited to 30 women, due to space and time, Bumi Sehat set up an extra clinic last month just for the Singakerta women. This means the OBGYN specialist and nurses examined 60 women last month—doubling the number we normally treat. 

As with previous clinics, about 20% of the women were found to have possible pre-cancerous cells, which were treated by freezing and removal. Those women are waiting on the results of a PAP smear for the all-clear. One women was found to have early stage cervical cancer and was referred to a cancer specialist for treatment. As her cancer was detected early, we are optimistic about her outcome.

As we write this report, we have another outreach talk scheduled for later today for nearby Pengosekan.