4 April 2019 – The goal of ending cervical cancer deaths is at once inspiring and frustrating. Effective tools to prevent cervical cancer exist, and yet for lack of resources, hundreds of thousands of women and girls cannot currently access them. The estimated 311,000 cervical cancer deaths annuallyare overwhelmingly in low-resource settings where people are challenged to receive adequate health care.

To bridge the gap between the unmet need and the solutions at hand, TogetHER for Health has launched a new Cervical Cancer Grants Programto address access barriers and strengthen and speed the adoption of cervical cancer prevention technologies. TogetHER’s member organizationscollaborated on the Program’s design, shaping it to help non-governmental organizations (NGOs) prevent cervical cancer in greater numbers of women and girls.

Projects funded under TogetHER’s grants of up to $25,000 will contribute to the body of knowledge about best practices for scaling up prevention programs. NGOs can propose to use the funds for activities such as health care worker training, creating demand for services, introduction of new technologies, and advocacy to speed the adoption of national policies supportive of effective prevention tools. TogetHER anticipates creative proposals to move the world closer to a widely shared vision of cervical cancer elimination.

Celina Schocken, Executive Director of TogetHER, emphasizes the grants’ role in moving the field of cervical cancer forward. “We now have inexpensive, easy-to-use devices to detect and treat cervical pre-cancer,” she explained. “We want to start getting those devices into use, so these grants provide an opportunity to conduct feasibility studies, revise guidelines, and do other activities to introduce these life-saving technologies.”

Proposals for the first round of funding are due on April 29, 2019. For more information and to view the Round 1 Request for Proposals, please visit http://togetherforhealth.org/cervical-cancer-grants/

Byline: Jennie Aylward