Back on track

After a bout with an annoying travel bug, I'm finally back on the scene. I hadnt' been sick once this whole year yet and of course soon after I arrived, I came down with a cold. But 12 hours of sleep can do a body good so I'm on the mend!

Today, unfortunately, our mode of transport was out of commission so we couldn't go into the community and do door to door meetings as we had hoped. Part of the program here is spreading awareness via peer educators who visit a community and go house to house giving information about cervical cancer and locations for screening. I hope to get to join them next week when they go again. Most of the staff believe this has been the most effective method of getting the word out and bringing women into the clinic. Word of mouth is often the best way!!

On Monday, the nurses and doctors who work for the government went on strike to push for higher wages. I saw them lined up outside the hospital on Monday morning. When I asked how long this could go on, there didn't seem to be an answer...but I know they're still out of the hospitals and some of the clinics as well through today. The patients in the hospital are left waiting and unattended to unfortunately. It seems only a few clinicians are still working and trying to cover for all the staff that are out.
Luckily, CIDRZ is an NGO so the staff here are not following suit. But sadly, even the clinics not run by the government have been pretty empty as people seem to assume that the strike is citywide. I've been told this happens maybe once a year, so hopefully it will resolve soon!

In the meantime, I'm helping with a training manual for the peer educators that work in the community and clinics to spread awareness about cervical cancer and to mobilize women to come in to get screened. These women have been chosen from HIV support groups that CIDRZ organizes. Once trained, they get brought onto the cervical cancer team to work at the screening clinics and to do outreach into the community. They do an amazing job at educating the community and mobilizing women to come to the clinic. The stigma and misconceptions surrounding both HIV and cervical cancer are too numerous to list, but just for an idea, here are a few of the things I've heard:
- America invented HIV in a lab
- if you are found to have cervical cancer, it means you were a prostitute
- family planning methods cause cancer

To top it off, douching is a common practice here in Zambia because a woman is supposed to always keep her cervix and vagina dry. So many of the women here are even more prone to infections with HIV and HPV because they remove all the protective mucous and bacteria that is there to fight off those nasty viruses! So there's more than just getting the health care to these communities, its also about learning how to overcome the challenges that cultural beliefs and practices put forward as well.
There's so much to learn, and as I'm just starting to grasp some of the basics, I'm working to help edit the training manual my right hand lady, Susan, who supervises all community efforts for the cervical cancer team, has put together. What a trip!

More to come soon....!
xoxo,
Kristen