THE PROJECT
The ultimate goal is to eradicate cervical cancer. The current death toll is over 300,000 women a year. This can be accomplished by proper screening and early treatment and with advances in vaccination and the recent discovery of monoclonal antibody treatment.
Expected impact: There are estimated to be 150 million women that are screened for cervical cancer each year. 62 million are in the U.S. alone. There are perhaps billions of women who are not screened annually. The annual death rate is over 300,000 women from cervical cancer alone. This does not include causes of deaths due to co-infection with HIV where often the cause of death is listed as infection with HIV and concomitant AIDS.
The introduction of these Cervical Cancer Cure Kits should save tens of thousands of lives every year, initially. Once the project is up to scale, the screening and treatment program could save hundreds of thousands of women’s lives every year. 90% of cervical lesions are spontaneously cleared but while these lesions are present they are transmissible. If these lesions could be treated at the point of care (village, town, city, etc.), it would decrease the transmission rate of HPV. Treatment would also serve to decrease the morbidity and disability associated with higher-grade lesions. From a public health perspective, these screening and treatment kits, combined with the HPV vaccine and social programs may one day eliminate cervical cancer. This was the call to arms at the World Health Assembly in May of 2018. In fact, Australia could be the first country to eradicate cervical cancer with its national, HPV vaccination program.
The economic impact of this program could be enormous. Saving lives and mitigating disability results in increased economic productivity. On the other side of the equation is financial savings in the healthcare system where the cost to screen and treat is $5.00 per woman, lower-level staff can be easily trained and the number of expensive procedures (LEEP& LOOP and hysterectomy) for high-grade lesions is reduced.
90% of cervical cancer deaths are in low-resource countries. When the PAP test was introduced in the U.S., in the 1950’s, it resulted in a 60% decrease in cervical cancer deaths.This model, with the Cure Cervical Cancer Kits, has the same ambition as the PAP test 70 years ago. We have the chance to bring screening and treatment of cervical cancer directly to the areas that need it the most. These are the areas where over a quarter of a million women die every year.
THE HARD TRUTH
Cervical cancer is a deadly but preventable disease. It is the second most common cause of cancer deaths in women world-wide. Yet, it kills over 300,000 women every year-mostly in low-resource countries
The vast majority of cervical cancers and pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix are caused by the human papilloma virus. Most women with intact immune systems clear these low-grade lesions on their own. When the immune system is taxed with co-infection with HIV, hepatitis, malaria, etc., women are less apt to clear the infection and go on to develop higher grade lesions that metastasize and result in death.
When we treat cervical cancer or precancerous lesions of the cervix with cryotherapy or fulguration, we destroy the virus, create a perimeter and stimulate the body’s own immune response.
The current problem is lack of adequate screening and detection of cervical cancer. This is a relatively slow growing cancer that can be easily (and inexpensively) treated. The Cure Cervical Cancer Kit can screen and treat a woman for $5.00. A PAP test with subsequent treatment would cost $400-500. Vaccination with the HPV vaccine would cost $600-1000. Another limitation for screening is the antiquated and poorly-designed 2-bladed “duck-billed” vaginal speculum. Many seasoned providers struggle with trying to visualize the cervix due to lateral vaginal wall collapse in multiparous, overweight and obese women.
Saving lives by providing inexpensive kits that are easy to use in order to screen and treat precancerous and cancerous lesions of the cervix in low-resource countries..
Because the low-resource countries have been identified, distribution channels are in place and the kits are ready to ship, we can start saving lives today!
OutCome
The anticipated outcome of Cure Cervical Cancer, Inc. is an increase in the rate of screening from 5% currently to 50%, a dramatic reduction in the deaths from cervical cancer, clearance of the HPV infection, reduction in the co-infections with HIV and a reduction in the cost of treating high grade lesions at a tertiary center.
Goal
The ultimate goal is to eradicate cervical cancer. The current death toll is over 300,000 women a year. This can be accomplished by proper screening and early treatment and with advances in vaccination and the recent discovery of monoclonal antibody treatment.