It must be a curious sight for the Maasai women to see this sign (see the accompanying photo) about CCC cervical examinations amidst the rural backdrop of the Mara landscape. Thanks to the devoted work of Francis Aho of Africa Mission Services (AMS), Maasai women living in Mara settlements are being notified about CCC’s free cervical cancer screening and treatment clinic taking place on November 1, 2, 3 and 4 (with the CCC Staff).
CCC will train the local healthcare providers to perform the “See and Treat” procedure in order to carry on our mission once we leave the country. We will leave all the equipment necessary and update supplies to secure the clinic’s long-term sustainability. We delight in the concept that women that are unable to attend the opening of the clinic can visit the clinic in the future anytime they so desire! The new sustainable, ongoing CCC: The Mela Kent Clinic, located within the Engos Clinic, will be the only clinic screening and treating premalignant cervical lesions in this vast region of the Mara.
One of CCC’s continuing challenges is educating indigenous and local women about the danger of cervical cancer; informing them of the See and Treat procedure in order to prevent precancerous lesions from becoming cancer; and alerting them to the opportunity to have a free exam and treatment.
How do we do this? At first, we depend on our local partners to educate women on the benefits of receiving the Vinegar Test and, if positive, cryotherapy to treat the detected precancerous lesions. Once a CCC clinic is established, word of mouth helps tremendously to recruit more patients. As we launch our clinic in the Mara, the work of AMS (executing development projects and providing educational and medical services to Maasai people) is the critical link between CCC and meeting women’s health needs in the Mara region of Kenya.
Thank you, thank you, Francis Aho and AMS.