Announcing TogetHER for Health’s 2024-2025 Cervical Cancer Grants Program Grantees!
1 August, 2024
Each time TogetHER for Health launches a Request for Proposals under our Cervical Cancer Grants Program, we are inspired by the breadth and quality of the programs seeking to improve their capacity to provide access to cervical cancer prevention in low- and middle-income countries.
This year, we weren’t just inspired – we were overwhelmed. 288 proposals. Programs in 44 countries. That’s almost five times what we received just last year, an astonishing response that required us to delay our funding decision in order to give each of these submissions the review they deserve, in collaboration with a group of external reviewers.
We are proud to announce our three grantees for our latest funding round:
Teal Sisters Foundation’s community of empowered, informed and thriving women renders support, makes critical connections, and provides hope to women in Zambia, building a movement to eliminate cervical cancer in the country.
Teal Sisters Foundation’s project will utilize a community-based approach to increase uptake of cervical cancer prevention services in three high-burden districts across Zambia, building capacity in volunteers and healthcare workers to strengthen awareness of cervical cancer prevention along the path to connecting over 5,700 girls and women with preventive services.
Launching the World Health Organization’s Day of Elimination at Livingstone Correctional Facility on 17th November 2020. (Courtesy of Teal Sisters Foundation)
Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) is a leader among Nigeria’s youth-led organizations, working with communities, healthcare professionals and government to advance health equity in Africa’s most underserved communities. Their prior experience in cervical cancer prevention includes initiatives in four states in Nigeria, including a program promoting cancer awareness and HPV vaccine awareness in Jos, Plateau State.
SRHIN’s campaign will be designed and led by young people to advocate for HPV vaccination in Lagos State, Nigeria, combining a “citizen science” training program implementing culturally sensitive community-based awareness and outreach activities, data collection and analysis, alongside a parent-targeted communication campaign.
Trained youth health advocates from Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) engaging with young people during a secondary school health advocacy program in Ibadan, Nigeria. (Courtesy of SRHIN)
CureCervicalCancer launched its community-based Mobile Health for Mamas program in 2021, designed to reach medically underserved women at their own doorsteps with self-sample HPV testing and mobile treatment clinics within walking distance of their homes.
CureCervicalCancer’s project will leverage the Mobile Health for Mamas model in a remote and high-need region of Western Kenya, aiming to screen 7,000 women for high-risk HPV using a self-sampling approach. The program also aims to treat 90% of women for whom treatment is indicated, in line with the World Health Organization’s cervical cancer elimination targets.
CureCervicalCancer-trained Community Health Promoter brings self-sample HPV testing directly to women’s homes. (Courtesy of CureCervicalCancer)
We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with each of these teams. While we can only support a small percentage of the worthy programs seeking funding through our Grants Program, this overwhelming response is a clear indicator of the dedication and creativity of individuals and programs on the frontlines, working to end cervical cancer everywhere.
To support learning and share tips on our grantmaking and review process, TogetHER for Health will be organizing a webinar in August of 2024 to provide more details on our grant review process, share insights from our team, and introduce this year’s winners. Dates and registration links will be announced via our monthly newsletter.
If you have not yet signed up for TogetHER’s newsletter, please do so here.
The wave of submissions to this year’s funding round is also a reminder that resources for cervical cancer prevention in low-resource settings remain insufficient to put the world on the path to elimination. Our team remains inspired to continue our fight to expand the political and financial resources to end this preventable disease.
Congratulations again to our three grantee organizations, and thanks again to all who submitted proposals. Your efforts and commitment are critical to saving lives and building a world free from cervical cancer.