Yemanja Cancer Care Initiative

Yemanja Cancer Care Initiative partnered with local health care providers and nurses to carry out an ongoing community awareness and education campaign, highlighting the importance of early detection and early diagnosis for improving outcomes from breast and cervical cancer. There is a continuous outreach to community leaders, women's professional groups including hairdressers, dressmakers and market women and leaders and members of all religious organizations.

Yemanja embarked on preparation for the initiation of a screening mammography study that aims to improve understanding of the breast abnormalities that could presage the development of breast cancer in these underserved populations. We completed the study protocol and informed consent document and obtained ethical approval for the University of Lagos research ethics board, in preparation for study initiation in 2023. We also engaged the partnership of both government-owned public and private diagnostic centers and trained the participating staff in the conduct of clinical research studies and data collection.

Yemanja Cancer Care Initiative initiated a cervical cancer screening program in a small local government area near Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. Two thousand two hundred women were screened for cervical pre-cancer using a combined one-day screen and treat approach. Women who were confirmed to have lesions compatible with cervical pre-cancer were treated with thermal coagulation. The women are encouraged to return after 12 months for re-screening. In 2022, we screened 2,200 women, and are well on our way to achieving the UN sustainable development goal of screening at least 70% of eligible women in the community.