Cervical Cancer Prevention in Sri Lanka

RCB members visiting Sri Lanka learned that Rotarians there wished to build a clinic where Sri Lankan women could get free mammograms. The Rotary Club of Colombo (RCC) had started a breast cancer detection program to address the exceedingly high death rate among Sri Lankan women due to late presentation of breast cancer, but they needed detection equipment and a dedicated facility. RCB, along with partners Rotary Club of Nurmberg-Sigena, Germany and the Rotary Club of Zurich-Sihltal, Switzerland, received a global grant from the Rotary International Foundation that provided a mammography machine and established the Cancer Prevention & Early Detection Center in 2011. Since then, RCB has provided other detection equipment, signage, medical supplies, technology to track patients and printed awareness campaigns. 

Through the project, over 33,000 women and men have been screened for breast cancer. Of that number, 8,000 have been referred for further testing or treatment. In 2021, Rotarian Dr. Ed Partridge, Director of UAB’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and President of the American Cancer Society was awarded the Service Above Self Award by Rotary District 6860 in recognition of his efforts to prevent and treat cancer locally and internationally. 

Efforts were expanded to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem in Sri Lanka through The Cervical Cancer Elimination Project. The program includes vaccinating girls against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) at age 10, and screening women for cervical cancer at ages 35 and 45 with HPV DNA testing. The Cervical Cancer Elimination project is a partnership between the Rotary Club of Birmingham, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB, The Rotary Club of Colombo (Sri Lanka), Ashok Leyland Company and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health.

The Cervical Cancer Elimination Project aims to improve the capacity of local health care professionals, promote disease prevention, and create treatment programs that limit the spread of communicable diseases and reduce the incidence and effect of non-communicable diseases. By developing a replicable training model for midwives, the project strengthens Sri Lanka's health care system serves as a platform that can be disseminated to other countries.

In 2021, Rotarian Dr. Isabel Scarinci, senior advisor for Globalization and Cancer, O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Alabama at Birmingham, was named one of six Rotary People of Action: Champions of Health for her work to address cervical cancer in Sri Lanka.

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“It is a great honor to be recognized by Rotary for my work to help eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem,” said Dr. Scarinci. “But what’s most important is that this award helps bring attention to a disease that should not be as prevalent as it is. Cervical cancer is a preventable disease, yet it is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Raising awareness of this fact will save lives by helping to inform women everywhere that there is screening to protect themselves and a vaccine to protect their daughters from this devastating disease.”