Peer Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventive Therapy Project at the Bingu International Conference Centre
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SECOND QUARTER APRIL - JUNE 2019 At the helm of the PEER CerVICAL Project: Clinical Story Research Site on Leader Dr. Lameck PAGE 2 Chinula. File photo CANcer SCREENING Right: A cross section of delegates during the launch. AND PreVENTIVE THerAPY PROJECT LAUNCHED UNC Project continues to fight cervical cancer, a leading cause of cancer related deaths in Malawi. ‘Perception of cancer has changed, just like it happened with HIV,’ Dr. Satish Gopal lot of community awareness innovation in the treatment of cancer. on health care and research. has significantly contributed However, he said, cancer care is still “In 5 to 10 years, it will be exciting to Ain helping people understand centralized in Malawi just like other have been part of the contribution in the more about cancer, a non-infectious countries which makes it harder for treatment of cancer in Malawi,” said the disease involving abnormal cell growth some people in distant locations to access oncologist. which usually invade or spread to other diagnosis and treatment. Situated at UNC Project Malawi, parts of the body. “At least decentralizing screening The Malawi Cancer Consortium was Speaking recently to a team of services would help. Pathology, established in 2014 to develop capacity student journalists from UNC – Chapel chemotherapy and screening are highly and conduct high-impact research Hill, Director of the Malawi Cancer centralized. There is also need for more focused on HIV-associated cancers, with Consortium Dr. Satish Gopal, said training of personnel to carry out all support from the NCI Office of HIV/ establishing of diagnostic facilities, these roles,” he explained and added AIDS Malignancies. courtesy of UNC Project has helped in that Malawi has few pathologists and In 2016, additional support was achieving this. oncologists. provided by the NCI Center for Global “People’s perception of cancer has UNC Project, according to Gopal, has Health to establish a Regional Center of changed just like it happened with been the centre of processing samples Research Excellence for NCD. HIV,” he said adding that cancer is a and interpreting samples from across The consortium builds on topic the consortium is working on Malawi and has also taken a big role in longstanding collaborations between the through various studies ,and research the coming of the cancer treatment centre University of North Carolina at Chapel continues to grow. in Lilongwe. Hill, Lighthouse Trust, Malawi Ministry On the issue of vaccination for UNC has a 15 strong faculty member of Health, University of Malawi College cancer, Gopal said researchers are team doing various assignments in of Medicine, Kamuzu Central Hospital, Dr. Satish Gopal. File photo: making big efforts to bring a lot of Malawi with a strong leaning and other partners. Twambilile Phanga ACTG thanks CAB represents Malawi Imbokodo: One year later 2 members for their 3 in WHO Innovation 5 contribution Challenge 12 TIDZIWE POST SECOND QUARTER 2019 Delegates during the launch of the Peer Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventive Therapy Project at the Bingu International Conference Centre. Photo: Callisto Sekeleza War against Cervical Cancer stepped up NC Project Malawi on Thursday, April 4, Speaking during the launch, National 2019 was part of the launch of the PEER Coordinator for Cancer Services Twambilile Phiri, Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventive said Malawi government also felt compelled to UTherapy Project, a new study funded by the United curb the cervical cancer burden, saying there were THERMOCOAGULATION States Agency for International Development strategies in place to help achieve this. Among (USAID) and National Academies of Science these, she mentioned HPV vaccine which was Thermocoagulation uses heat to destroy tissue (visible (NAS), which will be led by the University of being rolled nationally, screening programme in precancerous lesions). The superficial epithelium blisters off North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and the all district hospitals for women aged 25-49 years, after treatment, and the underlying stroma and glandular University of Malawi – College of Medicine. scaling up cryotherapy and spreading of research. crypts are destroyed by desiccation. Other partners in the consortium are MSH, According to UNC Project Malawi Clinical The maximum temperature during thermocoagulation is the Malawi Polytechnic and the University Site Research Leader Dr. Lameck Chinula, the 120°C to control of post-LEEP bleeding. of Washington. The study will evaluate the cancer study is designed as a cluster randomized The technology has a clinical appeal because it is user- feasibility and cost-effectiveness of integrating trial integrating HPV-based screen-and-treat friendly, inexpensive, and durable. The system runs entirely on a human papillomavirus (HPV)–based cervical algorithm with voluntary family planning (VFP) electrical power and requires no gas to operate. The treatment is cancer screening and treatment approach with services. fast, easy to learn and the equipment has a low dependency on voluntary family planning. Sixteen health facilities There are two models which will be applied a service infrastructure. in Lilongwe and Zomba will participate as study in the study: In model 1 which will be done at The treatment requires generally no local anaesthesia and is sites. the clinic only, there will be cervico-vaginal self- administered within a very short treatment cycle (< 2 Minutes). In a statement during the launch, USAID said sampling for rapid high risk – human papilloma The device is fairly simple to use and does not require long Malawi had the world’s second highest incidence virus (hr-HPV) testing using the GeneXpert enduring and costly training for an operator to understand how of cervical cancer. machine. On the same day, thermocoagulation it is done properly. “These deaths can largely be prevented will be conducted to treat the women found Published data shows that cold coagulation treats cervical through regular screening for, and timely positive. lesions as well or better than cryotherapy. treatment of precancerous cervical lesions. This In the second model (Clinic + Community), is due in part to limited resources and health similar procedures will be followed but the facilities that provide screening programs, as difference will be that the self-sampling will be (https://www.thermo-coagulation.com/) well as a shortage of medical providers trained to done at home and not at the clinic as in model 1. perform the necessary diagnostic and treatment Thermocoagulation will also follow if the women procedures,” read the statement. are found to be hr-HPV+. This is an in-house publication. Its mission is to promote a sense of community by communicating information relevant and vital to the operations and staff of UNC Project Malawi. In a drive to increase participation and bring variety to the publication, all UNC Project staff are free and encouraged to contribute articles in this publication. Write ups ar wlecome in the range 400 – 600 words for event stories and a maximum of 1000 words for other more technical issues worth sharing. Forward your contributions to: [email protected] Graphic layout: Thank you for contributing to ACTG studies The Aids Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) recently recognized role of the community advisory board (CAB) of UNC Project Malawi, in the studies under the Group, through award of certificates of appreciation. The CAB consists of various people COMMUNICATIONS including participants in clinical trials; traditional, civic, religious and political leaders and representatives of groups with special needs such as women and youth. IN THE PHOTO: Country Director Innocent Mofolo and UNC Project staff pose together with the CAB members after presentation of certificates. Photo: Callisto Sekeleza TIDZIWE POST SECOND QUARTER 2019 13 WHO Innovation Challenge picks 30 out of 2400 entries for the 2nd African Health Forum Twambilile represents Malawi in Cape Verde wambilile Phanga’s ‘Youth Friendly Health Services’ was among the 30 Tbest-profiled innovations during the three-day World Health Organisation (WHO) 2nd Africa Health Forum which took place in Cape Verde from 26-28 March 2019. According to the WHO regional office for Africa, the WHO Innovation Challenge received a total of 2 471 applications in just four weeks from 77 countries – 44 countries in Africa. A panel of independent evaluators assessed and profiled the innovations in terms of the potential for making impact as well as ability to be scaled up in a sustainable way. More than a third of the submissions came from women. “In the WHO Innovation Challenge, the idea was that the chosen innovations that can help solve African health problems, would be given chance to go to the Africa Health Forum in Cape Verde to exhibit in front of worldwide donors, government officials to see what other people were doing in Africa,” explained Phanga said who is UNC Project’s Project/Study Coordinator. Journey on Phanga said following the Cape Verde Cape Verde president Carlos Almeida Fonseca and WHO Regional Director for Africa Motshidiso Moeti interacting with event, WHO has written all the 30 people Twambilile. Photos: Courtesy of organisers who participated in the Challenge to contact their home (WHO) offices so that services but we were only in one clinic in that I presented was that in Malawi we effective in increasing uptake and the innovations should not be forgotten. Malawi. We feel if they fund us, we can have high rates of teenage pregnancies, adherence to sexual and reproductive “In the submission, we told WHO be in almost every health centre or every and also high rate of HIV infections health support and services. The that we had this study which had district. We believe these services can among the adolescent girls and young programme provides services from amazing results in terms of uptake of effectively reduce pregnancies as well as women. This is largely because they a young person’s perspective and sexual and reproductive health HIV infections cannot access services at a normal addresses known barriers to care in among the clinic.