US$2.57M PAHO grant to tackle infectious diseases, boost cancer screening in region

Breast and cervical cancer screening in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to receive a huge boost with the awarding of a US$2.57 million grant to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) by the PAHO Foundation.

According to a press release, the PAHO Foundation made the announcement yesterday stating that the grant was to be used over a period of three years and would further PAHO’s work in the surveillance, prevention, education and control of priority infectious diseases and women’s cancers.

The release quoted President and CEO of PAHO Foundation Dr Jennie Ward-Robinson as saying, “The burden of disease can be greatly reduced if Latin American and the Caribbean countries strengthen the capacities of their health delivery systems to prevent, detect and respond early to communicable and non-communicable diseases. Our grant to PAHO will help transform surveillance, prevention and control of some of the most important diseases that plague communities across the region. By boldly addressing these health issues head on, we can save lives, and help build more resilient communities.”

The grant will be used to build much needed awareness on prevention and screening for breast and cervical cancers. The most common women’s cancers in Latin America and the Caribbean, they claim an estimated 120,000 women’s lives each year and result in more than 400,000 newly diagnosed cases annually. According to PAHO/WHO experts, access to quality cancer screening programmes for early diagnosis and improvements in cancer education, treatment and care can significantly reduce unnecessary deaths from these diseases.

Meanwhile, the grant will also be used to expand PAHO’s capacity to collect, analyze and share real-time data on infectious diseases, especially meningococcal disease, influenza and dengue. Meningococcal disease affects mainly children and adolescents and can kill up to 50% of cases if left untreated. Dengue incidence in the Americas has increased 30 times over the past 50 years, and more than 1.1 million cases were reported in the region in 2014, the release said.

It quoted PAHO Director Carissa F Etienne as saying, “We are grateful to PAHO Foundation for this significant grant which will enable us to continue the critical work of tracking and containing communicable infectious diseases and preventing and treating non-communicable diseases that affect people throughout the Americas. Better prevention and control of both types of diseases will save lives and improve quality of life, especially among our region’s most vulnerable groups.”

The grant, the Foundation’s first to PAHO for 2015, the release said, will also support public education efforts on breast and cervical cancers through the mass media and community-based health promotion.

Primary health care providers will benefit from health counselling materials, and stakeholder workshops will focus on evidenced-based “screen and treat” strategies for HPV (human papilloma virus) which causes cervical cancer.

The PAHO Foundation is an independent tax-exempt, charitable organization that mobilizes private sector resources to improve the health and well-being of the people of the Americas. By bringing together partners with proven technical expertise, ingenuity and the capacity to improve the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, the Foundation builds healthier, more secure futures for families, communities and entire regions, the release said.