Noncommunicable Diseases

We propose a “See and LEEP” strategy in rural Kenya to provide a point-of-need service for women with a positive cancer screen. LEEP is highly effective at treating pre-malignant disease, has low morbidity and can be used in a low-resource setting.

A cervical cancer screening program developed by this project, for women bringing children for routine immunization in rural Uganda, will increase awareness and early diagnosis, and will reduce morbidity and mortality from the disease.

To enable Kenyan women to apply a scenario based planning (SBP) approach with analytics to develop implementation strategies for iPap, a technically innovative CCS sample self-collection approach to meet social/financial requirements and save lives.

The Imaging the World (ITW) approach is to train front line health workers with limited knowledge of anatomy or pathology to generate ultrasound images using a volume-based technique, based on surface anatomic landmarks. These images are captured as cine clips and sent via the local cellular network to the internet to be accessed for remote expert interpretation. Findings and recommendations are sent back to the rural clinics as text messages or emails.

Dr. Karen Yeates, Co-Director of the Office of Global Health at Queen’s University, will implement the Kilimanjaro Cervical Cancer Screening Project in Tanzania. The project aims to examine and evaluate a cost-effective method of screening for cervical cancer using a trained non-physician healthcare worker, mobile phone camera and text messaging.

Breast cancer kills more women than any other cancers in Vietnam, where screening programs are not popular nor readily available and are expensive, especially for those in remote areas.  A low-cost device and computer software developed by this project to screen for breast cancer will provide a mammography alternative.

In rural Bangladesh, most women do not seek care for breast cancer until it is too late. We will develop & test novel mobile phone tools for female Community Health Workers (CHWs) to case-find, refer, and encourage women to attend our breast centre; CHWs will learn new marketable skills which will make the system sustainable. Follow Ophira Ginsburg on Twitter @ophirag"

PathCore’s telepathology platform will be used to prove efficacy of remote telepathology for underserved regions, by connecting University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria with foreign experts Anticipated benefits for UBTH include: collaborative review of problematic cases, opportunities to learn from foreign expertise, reduced travel costs for experts and patients and enhanced patient care (i.e. faster, better, cheaper care). Digital pathology is a low-cost alternative that streamlines assistance from foreign experts by eliminating geographical barriers.

When liver cancer is diagnosed early, an 80% survival rate is achievable. Nearly eradicated in developed nations, liver cancer remains a major cause of death in low-income nations. Countries such as Egypt are particularly susceptible to liver cancer because of high levels of hepatitis C. This project aims to utilize novel ultrasound image processing methods sensitive to tissue abnormalities to detect early liver cancer in rural and urban Egypt.

We elevate the significance of HIV-linked cancers to diverse stakeholders by developing a unique repository of information on common cancers, especially those that are HIV-linked. Create demand for innovative (public healthcare) interventions to address Information, Education & Communication (IEC) needs based on unique"