{"id":57372,"date":"2015-07-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-research-professor-brings-storytelling-cloth-to-west-africa-to-fight-cervical-cancer\/"},"modified":"2015-07-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T00:00:00","slug":"uri-research-professor-brings-storytelling-cloth-to-west-africa-to-fight-cervical-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/07\/uri-research-professor-brings-storytelling-cloth-to-west-africa-to-fight-cervical-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 research professor brings storytelling cloth to West Africa to fight cervical cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tDr. Annie De Groot and nonprofit director Eliza Squibb say prevention program is a success<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I., July 15, 2015 \u2013 The bright yellow African storytelling cloth designed by a 溏心vlog免费B站 researcher and nonprofit director is helping prevent cervical cancer in Mali.<\/p>\n


\nThat\u2019s the word from Dr. Annie De Groot, a 溏心vlog免费B站 vaccine researcher who recently returned from a two-week trip to the West African country to coordinate a campaign to prevent the illness.<\/p>\n


\nDe Groot, of Providence, is an expert on vaccines and is founder of the Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS Vaccine Foundation, or GAIA Vaccine Foundation. The nonprofit\u2019s director, Eliza Squibb, a 2013 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, also went on the trip.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled with the early results of our public awareness campaign,\u201d says Squibb. \u201cWe\u2019re well on our way to combating one of the deadliest cancers among women in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign was made possible with a $100,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in a program to encourage scientists to create innovative solutions to worldwide health challenges. Using an African storytelling cloth to educate people about the disease is De Groot\u2019s grant-winning idea.<\/p>\n


\nIn West Africa, patterns are used to communicate and tell stories, almost like social media. Textiles with images and words, for example, are used to convey social or economic messages. De Groot thought it would be a great idea to design a cloth that highlights the connection between HPV, or human papillomavirus, and the prevention of cervical cancer. <\/p>\n


\nDe Groot and Squibb designed the fabric, which shows healthy, flowering uteruses next to a banner that says, \u201cI protect myself. I care for myself. I get vaccinated.\u201d A local proverb in Bambara, the main language in Mali, is also included: \u201cBanakoub\u00e9 kafisa ni bana foura k\u00e9y\u00e9\u201d or \u201cIt\u2019s better to prevent than cure.\u201d Disguised in the print are images of fallopian tubes and uteruses surrounding a near-invasion of HPV viruses embedded in abnormal cells. Both women and men enjoy wearing the colorful fabric.<\/p>\n

De Groot and Squibb went to Mali for two weeks in early June. They visited five clinics in Bamako, the capital of Mali, to distribute the cloth. The campaign included weekly educational programs, community outreach and free cervical cancer screenings and treatment. Radio ads about prevention also aired throughout the capital.<\/p>\n


\nSquibb says the program is a success:<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tCervical screenings have soared since medical staff in Mali launched the campaign three months ago. So far, 1,629 women have been screened, compared to 283 during the same time last year.<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tAll women who tested positive for precancerous lesions received free treatment from a doctor.<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tWomen reported that they liked the educational sessions and requested more seminars on child health, reproductive health and viral infections.<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tOf the women who responded to a survey, 20 percent learned about cervical cancer from a peer educator, 11 percent got their information from a clinic, 25 percent learned about the disease from a friend or neighbor, 30 percent were referred by a doctor and 6 percent heard about the illness from a radio ad.<\/p>\n


\n\u2022\tNearly all the women who had seen the HPV cloth said they would share the fabric\u2019s information with family and friends. All of them said they would recommend screenings to women, thanks to the cloth.<\/p>\n


\nCervical cancer is one of the most common and deadly cancers among women in Africa, with rates five times higher than in the United States. The high rate is linked to inaccessibility to health care and annual exams \u2013 and to a lack of knowledge about HPV. Research by De Groot\u2019s organization found that fewer than three in 100 people in Mali are aware of the connection between HPV and cervical cancer, and that testing for cervical cancer is extremely low.<\/p>\n


\nThe campaign will continue for the next three months and longer, if possible. The organization is seeking more grant money from various groups, including the Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe want to continue the screening program as long as we can,\u201d says Squibb, a native of Camden, Maine. \u201cIt\u2019s an important public health program. Women are getting treated now for lesions that might turn into cancer later.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDe Groot is optimistic about the future: \u201cIt has been gratifying to see how engaged the physicians, midwives and nurses in Mali have been about this project. Cervical cancer is something they are all familiar with, as it has touched their own families. We look forward to the next step of our project which will be to prevent cervical cancer with the HPV vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDe Groot\u2019s foundation also supports other projects in West Africa, including building a clinic for HIV care and conducting studies on vaccines to prevent infectious diseases that affect populations, especially women, living in developing countries.<\/p>\n


\nDe Groot is director of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Institute for Immunology and Informatics and medical director of Cl\u00ednica Esperanza, a free clinic in Providence. She was recently named one of the 50 most influential people in Vaccine Nation<\/a> in the field of vaccines.<\/p>\n


\nTo learn more about the HPV program watch the video <\/p>\n