Project Summary

Our next project is set to take place in Accra, Ghana in September 2021 with our partner, CervCa is Real. CervCa is Real is Ghana-based non-governmental organization that also works to decrease the rate of cervical cancer in Ghana, specifically. Together, we are: 

1) Hosting a two-three week-long series of educational seminars for prevention and detection of female-specific cancers (cervical, breast, ovarian, vaginal, uterine), sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and mental health maintenance for patients with a medical diagnosis. These educational seminars are geared specifically towards midwives, of which we strive to train 100 from different cities in Ghana.

2) Donating educational materials that correspond to those seminars that take the form of:

1. A) Booklets for the midwives we train
2. B) Posters that are hung at medical facilities including clinics and hospitals.

3) Hosting community health consultations with general members of the community for prevention of female-specific cancers and STIs and how to maintain mental health.

4) Going to schools to teach kids ages 12-14 cancer prevention habits and teenage pregnancy prevention since that is a huge issue in the part of Ghana we are going to.

5) Donating educational supplies and necessary medical equipment.

6) Assessing our impact for this project and establishing a satellite CCAP Across The Map team to continue doing work in this region once our team has left, to generate sustainability. 

Progress with Existing Funds 

Our Ghana project is set at a $10,000 budget due to the aforementioned expansion and increased travel costs. We have already fundraised $3,100, which will go primarily towards travel costs for the two members we are sending to the region to implement the program.   

Impact  

To measure impact, we will administer pre and post surveys for our educational seminars. Next, surveys after training sessions for midwives to ensure they have learned practical detection skills. Third, surveys assessing if trainees would be likely to use these skills in the field and how we can improve our training. Finally, verbal surveys for general community members to learn their knowledge about prevention methods. This education model was effective during our most recent field project in Jalisco, Mexico with the following results: 20% increase in knowledge about the human papillomavirus (HPV), its causative effect on cervical cancer, and the preventative effect of the HPV vaccine – 40% increase in understanding of visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) for cancer detection – 80% of trainees reporting they would be comfortable to use VIA in the field – and 95% of trainees reporting they would recommend VIA to other community health workers.