First GlobalGiving Matching Day of 2016!

The first matching day of the year with GlobalGiving is tomorrow, March 16th! However, this time it will be a little different. This bonus day will be a pro-rated match day! GlobalGiving will have $75,000 in matching funds. Starting at 09:00:00 EST, all donations until midnight are eligible to be matched at the pro-rated percent. The pro-rated percent is based on the total amount of funds raised on the matching day, the amount our organization has raised, and the amount of matching funds that are available. This means we don’t yet know what the matching percent will be but we will find out at the end of the day. By doing this, GlobalGiving is able to offer matching funds for every online donation during the day!

MedPLUS Connect is still fundraising to establish the first cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region in Ghana. Cervical cancer is highly preventable with early screening and detection and is also very treatable when caught early. However, women in the Upper West Region currently don't have access to regular screenings and must travel significant distances to receive treatment. By fundraising to purchase the expensive equipment and supplies needed to provide both screening and treatment, we are enabling Dr. Fofie at the Wa Regional Hospital to provide the women of the Upper West Region with the care they need.

You can read more about our project here and consider making a donation: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/prevent-cancer-for-women-in-ghana/

This woman is one of many who would benefit from the establishment of the first cervical cancer and screening treatment program in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Holiday Giving

If you're still finishing up last minute holiday shopping, you can also help earn money for MedPLUS Connect while you shop! When you do your Holiday shopping at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Medplus Connect. Bookmark the link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/87-0790691 and support us every time you shop!

Another way to earn donations for MedPLUS while you shop is iGive, a search engine that that allows you to earn money for your chosen cause simply by searching and shopping on the internet. And its completely free to sign up! iGive helps make shopping a form of giving and makes every purchase count. Use this link to sign up and try it out: http://www.iGive.com/medplusconnect

If you're still looking for gift ideas for loved ones, you can also consider a donation to MedPLUS Connect in their honor. You can make a general donation at www.medplusconnect.org/donate or a donation in support of our cervical cancer program at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/prevent-cancer-for-women-in-ghana/. If you want to donate as a gift or in honor of someone, we will gladly send your loved one a card letting them know of the donation. On Global Giving, when you sign up for a new monthly recurring donation between now and December 31st, a generous anonymous donor will match your initial gift 100%! Giving a gift that helps others may be the perfect gift for your loved ones!

Happy Holidays from all of us at MedPLUS Connect! Thank you for your continued support!

#GivingTuesday

With Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday now behind us, what better way to get into the holiday spirit than by giving back? Tomorrow, December 1st, is #GivingTuesday, the fourth annual event held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving that celebrates generosity. #GivingTuesday is a special call to action to create a global day of giving that brings diverse organizations and communities around the world together to give back. It provides people everywhere with an opportunity to give more, give smarter, and give great. As we have in the past, MedPLUS Connect is joining this year's #GivingTuesday campaign to encourage everyone, everywhere to think of others and participate in a global philanthropic event. You can help spread the word, make a donation, or volunteer. If you choose to give to MedPLUS Connect this #GivingTuesday, you are helping provide life-saving medical supplies and equipment to rural hospitals and health centers throughout Ghana and to create the first cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region.

Last year, more than 30,000 organizations in 68 countries celebrated #GivingTuesday. Lets make this year even larger and give great!

GlobalGiving Update and Donations Matched!

If you've been following our cervical cancer program on GlobalGiving you may have noticed some exciting changes. At the end of July, GlobalGiving unveiled their new website, which included many improvements to give you faster load times and easier navigation. They are continuing to make additional improvements that you may notice in the coming months, but we hope the new site makes it easier for you to keep track of the cervical cancer project!

Also, directly due to your continued support, our Partner Rewards Level has moved from "Partner" to "Leader!" This means MedPLUS Connect is now more likely to be recommended to a corporate partner, featured in GlobalGiving social media and donor communications, eligible for special trainings, matching campaigns, and other opportunities just for Leaders and able to post microprojects. This means more opportunities to support and extend the reach of the cervical cancer program- one of which is occurring right now.

Now, through Friday, September 25th, when you start a new monthly recurring donation for the cervical cancer program on GlobalGiving, a generous anonymous donor will match your initial gift 100%! This is a great way to make a large impact without having to donate a large amount. For example, just $12 purchases a speculum to help screen women for cervical cancer. This program will be the first cervical cancer screening and treatment in the Upper West Region and will help save the lives of many women in Ghana. You can always find out more information about this project at: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/prevent-cancer-for-women-in-ghana/

This woman is one of many who would benefit from the establishment of the first cervical cancer and screening treatment program in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Project Heal Visits the Lawra Nutrition Center!

Two members of Project Heal, an undergraduate student service group at UNC Chapel Hill, visited Ghana in June and were able to visit the Lawra Nutrition Center while they were there. Project Heal was founded by two of our three founders of MedPLUS Connect, while they were undergraduate students at UNC in 2009. We are grateful to have maintained our relationship with Project Heal and were excited to hear about their most recent service trip.

Project Heal is a completely student run group that fundraises and takes annual summer service trips to Ghana. The organization provides basic first aid and dental workshops and supplies and takes on a couple additional projects each trip. While in Lawra this summer, Rawley and Boya, past and present Presidents of Project Heal, delivered textbooks and diagnostic kits to the nutrition center. They also met with Patience and Dr. Sandaare and painted a large, beautiful flower mural outside the nutrition center, to help brighten the building and make it child friendly. Thank you so much to Rawley and Boya for all of your hard work this summer!

Patience with the supplies delivered by Project Heal

Paitience and Dr. Sandaare with Rawley (left) and Boya (right)

Children gathered in front of the mural Project Heal painted the Lawra Nutrition Center

An Update on the Nutrition Center!

In the first month of 2015, the nutrition center admitted 3 new patients to the center with  3 previous patients who returned for additional treatment. At the end of January, 4 children were rehabilitated and 2 remained in treatment. In February there were 5 new patients and 1 previous case, in addition to the 2 children who remained in treatment from January. This gave a total of 8 children being treated at the nutrition center during February, with 4 being rehabilitated by the end of the month! The nutrition center continues to be a great source of health care and information for the Lawra community, focusing not just on malnutrition but also on certain chronic diseases, which are becoming increasingly more common throughout Ghana. Ms. Gaa and hospital staff recently started a weekly hypertension and diabetes clinic for adults in the Lawra District. The clinic provides counseling on a proper diet, monitoring of nutritional status and a variety of health talks to aid adults suffering from hypertension and/or diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation, there were approximately 450,000 cases of diabetes in Ghana in 2014, with an additional estimated 340,000 cases that remain undiagnosed.

When the nutrition center was constructed, we envisioned its primary benefactors to be children in the area who were suffering from malnutrition. And while treating malnutrition remains the principal function of the nutrition center, we are excited to see the resources of the center also being used to reach adults in need throughout Lawra and help combat chronic diseases. Below are a few pictures of one of the weekly diabetes clinics.

Hospital staff at one of the weekly diabetes and hypertension clinics

Hospital staff at one of the weekly diabetes and hypertension clinics

Fire Devastates the Central Medical Stores in Ghana

On Tuesday, January 13th, the central medical store in Ghana caught fire, destroying thousands of medical supplies. The central medical store is located in Tema, Ghana, near the capital of Accra, and serves as the primary storage facility for many drugs and medical supplies for Ghana Health Services (GHS). The fire started between 9 and 10am that morning and was fought by several firefighters soon after. Members of staff were reportedly running back and forth from the blaze in an attempt to save documents and other supplies.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira, called the fire a "disaster" and stated that it will have a significant effect on the drug supply in Ghana. As the primary storage site for Ghana Health Services' consumable supplies, the fire at the central medical store  means that the country will likely have shortages of drugs. GHS may attempt to purchase some of the drugs and equipment locally, and a smaller supply of drugs have previously been distributed to the different regions throughout Ghana. In addition to the consumable supplies such as malarial drugs, many pieces of medical equipment, such as hospital beds, were also destroyed. Its currently estimated that the fire damaged over GH¢273 million of supplies.

Four Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service officials have been fired while the Ghana National Fire Service and the Bureau for National Investigations determine the cause of the fire. This fire is truly devastating for the country of Ghana, having destroyed so many drugs and valuable medical equipment. We sincerely hope the cause of the fire is discovered soon and that an alternative means of securing these much needed medicine and supplies can be identified.

Scenes of the devastating fire at the Central Medical Store in Tema, Ghana

Below are a few links to coverage of the fire:

http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/36882-central-drug-storage-fire-outbreak-is-a-disaster-ghs.html

http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/36868-fire-guts-tema-medical-stores.html

http://www.dailyguideghana.com/4-fired-over-tema-fire/

A Look Back on 2014

Now that we're a little over one month into the New Year we wanted to take a look back on all that MedPLUS accomplished in the past year. In 2014 MedPLUS Connect celebrated five years  of incorporation and sending shipments of valuable medical supplies! We sent our first container in 2008 and became fully incorporated in 2009. Our story was featured in the Carolina Alumni Review (as our three founders are all UNC Chapel Hill alumni) and it was exciting to look back on all MedPLUS has accomplished since then. For a full look back on MedPLUS Connect's five years in action, follow this link to our News and Updates page.  You can also see our blog post about our magazine article here.

Page 1 of our article in the Carolina Alumni Review

In 2014 the Nutrition center also treated 50 new patients and rehabilitated 53 children! We also received a generous donation of a laptop and digital camera for the nutrition center. These items have already greatly improved the record keeping and documentation of each patient's progress, enabling the nutrition center to better help children recover from the effects of malnutrition.

Ms. Gaa using the donated laptop computer

In addition, the nutrition center also held a training on the Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) for Lawra District Hospital staff in April of this past year. This training was attended by 11 members from the various units of the Lawra District Hospital, including 9 nurses, a midwife and a medical assistant. They were instructed on the impact of malnutrition in children, how to identify and manage a child with malnutrition in addition to other medical conditions, how to prepare therapeutic food, and how to educate mothers on proper nutrition at home.

Training at the Lawra Nutrition Center

In 2014 we also raised enough funds on Global Giving to be ready to purchase the first set of supplies and equipment for the cervical cancer screening and treatment program. We ended the year with $7,966.76 in donations for the program and are ready to purchase  1 diathermy machine, 1 cryotherapy set, 1 cryotherapy cylinder, 1 autoclave, 2 biopsy forceps, 10 tenaculums, 10 sponge forceps, and 25 speculums. We are so excited that the first stage of establishing the first cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region is underway and can't wait to report back on the progress soon!

Women at the Wa Regional Hospital

During the past year we also started participating in AmazonSmile, participated in our second Giving Tuesday, became Guidestar Certified, and attended a nonprofit conference in NYC. We also oversaw the distribution of the Upper East Regional container which held almost 16,000 pounds of medical supplies that were distributed to 51 different hospitals and health centers throughout the region!

2014 was an exciting year for MedPLUS and we look forward to what 2015 has in store!

Nutrition Center Update

We just wanted to share a quick update on the nutrition center with you from the last month of 2014! During December the nutrition center admitted 3 new patients in addition the 3 children that were still being treated at the end of November. By the end of December, 3 children were rehabilitated to outpatient care! Three children were still being treated at the end of 2014 but we look forward to hearing good results for the month of January. We are so appreciative of all of the hard work the staff at the nutrition center is doing to combat malnutrition in the Lawra District and look forward to many more children recovering from malnutrition in 2015!

Nutrition Center Update

We have another brief update on the Lawra Nutrition Center to share with you all! During the month of November, the center had three new patients admitted for treatment, in addition to four patients remaining in treatment from last month. By the end of the month, four children were rehabilitated and referred to outpatient treatment! We are also excited to have fully welcomed Ms. Gaa back after her maternity leave! She resumed her official duties in October and we are happy to have her back running the nutrition center (although her temporary replacement did an excellent job in her absence)!

Ms. Gaa treating children at the nutrition center

#GivingTuesday

As some of you may know, GivingTuesday is a recent phenomenon that occurs the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Giving Tuesday is a campaign that was founded in 2012 and is supported by the United Nations. Its goal is to bring together charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world to create a national day of giving at the start of the annual holiday season. It celebrates and encourages charitable activities that support non-profit this upcoming Tuesday, December 2nd. The goal of Giving Tuesday is to bring people together to give back to those less fortunate. We have a day of thanks (Thanksgiving), 2 days of deals (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) and now we have a day to give back. Giving back can mean many things, whether by giving your time to volunteer, giving your support by spreading the word, or by giving monetarily, either big or small, Click here to find out more about Giving Tuesday. We hope you’ll join us in taking a moment (or many moments) on Tuesday, December 2nd to give thanks and give back.

Nutrition Center Update!

Its been awhile since we shared an update on the Nutrition Center so we wanted to let you know how things are going. In August the center treated a total of 7 patients and rehabilitated 4! During the month of September, the nutrition center admitted 4 new patients and again rehabilitated 4 children from malnutrition! We're excited to see the nutrition center continue to help children recover from malnutrition and to report on two tools that will greatly help the nutrition center accurately treat these children. Due to the generous donation of Rob and Lilly Nix, the nutrition center is now in possession of a laptop and digital camera! The laptop will ensure that patient records are accurate and easily accessible and the camera is critical to help properly document the children's recovery. We are so grateful to our generous donors for their support! Ms. Gaa, the Nutrition Officer who is in charge of the daily operations of the center, told us that she is very appreciative of the donation and has been using the laptop and camera extensively already!  

Ms. Gaa using the laptop computer recently donated to the Lawra Nutrition Center

iGive New Member Bonus!

iGive is donating an extra $5 to ever new member who joins to support MedPLUS Connect and tries the iGive Button through 1/15/15! iGive is a search engine that that allows you to earn money for your chosen cause simply by searching and shopping on the internet. And its completely free to sign up! iGive helps make shopping a form of giving and makes every purchase count. Use this link to sign up and try it out: http://www.iGive.com/medplusconnect

And for all of our supporters on iGive, you can help spread the word about iGive and help MedPLUS Connect even more! iGive is doing a contest where the member who invites the most people who join iGive and try the iGive Button will win $1,000 for his or her cause! Second and third place winners mean $500 for their causes! This is a pretty quick and easy way to help MedPLUS earn more funds towards lifesaving shipments! Just go to the page below and use the personalized Tell A Friend link to invite friends to join iGive. If a supporter isn't already a member of iGive, they can join (and earn MedPLUS Connect $5 when they try the iGive Button):

http://www.iGive.com/html/tellafriend.cfm

Thanks as always for your continued support!

Ebola in West Africa

West Africa is currently undergoing the worst outbreak of Ebola since the virus was first seen in 1976. Ebola is a virus that causes an acute, serious illness and is often fatal if untreated. It can be spread through human contact with an infected animal and can then be spread through human to human transmission based on contact with infected bodily fluids. The first case of this outbreak was in Guinea and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, and Senegal. As of September 10th, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia continue to report new cases of the virus. Nigeria and Senegal have not reported any new confirmed case since September 5th and August 29th respectively. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also suffering an outbreak of Ebola, although one of a different strain. The first cases of Ebola related to the current outbreak were reported as early as March and as of September 12th, there have been 4,784 reported cases. However, there are many unreported cases and so the actual number of people infected with Ebola is thought to be significantly higher. This virus is severe with no known proven treatment and no vaccine. This severity is highlighted by the number of deaths due to Ebola, totaling  2,400 since September 12th.

The situation occurring in West Africa is heartbreaking, with an approximate case fatality rate of 52%. US scientists currently predict the outbreak will last 12-18 months with the WHO estimating 20,000 cases of Ebola before the virus is contained (however long-term predictions like this are extremely variable and subject to change). Some of the main barriers to containing the outbreak include limited beds and difficulty in establishing treatment centers. In addition, many health workers have become infected themselves due to a lack of infection prevention protocol in place. There is also significant stigma surrounding the virus and community resistance poses a threat to containment.

There are currently no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ghana and the country remains hopeful it will stay free of the outbreak. We recently spoke with the Regional Medical Director of the Northern Region, Dr. Twumasi, who reported he had just come from weeks of meetings in Accra discussing the Ebola outbreak and prevention methods. We continue to hope for the best for all of those affected by this outbreak and that it will be resolved sooner than predicted.

Read more here:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/

http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/epidemic-a-pandemic-alert-and-response/outbreak-news/4276-evd-outbreak-12-september-2014.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/16/ebola-by-the-numbers_n_5818834.html

Ghana to Open Over 300 New Health Clinics by 2020

Honorable Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Ghana’s minister of health, and Kelby Krabbenhoft, president and CEO of Sanford Health, jointly announced that the Ministry of Health and Sanford have joined together in a public-private partnership to increase access to healthcare throughout Ghana. This partnership will allow Sanford International Clinics to open over 300 clinics throughout Ghana by the year 2020, during which they expect to serve 4.5 million patients each year. This partnership is intended to improve maternal health throughout Ghana and help reduce the infant mortality rate. The clinics will be opened in "peri-urban" and rural areas, allowing more people to access primary care services. Kojo Taylor, president of Sanford International Clinic-Ghana, is looking forward to the impact these clinics will create.

'"Much of the rural population in Ghana does not have access to basic care,” said Taylor. “The addition of these clinics will greatly change the scope of health care across the nation. Thousands of families will no longer be forced to travel for basic services."'

Sanford Health is headquartered in the US and the largest, rural, not-for-profit health care system in the nation. Additionally, Sanford is creating international clinics in Ghana, Israel, Mexico and China. Sanford International Clinics first opened a clinic in Cape Coast in January of 2012. They have since opened four additional clinics and treated more than 180,000 patients in Ghana. This large partnership with the Ghanaian Ministry of Health holds much potential for improving health care throughout Ghana and we look forward to seeing their progress over the next several years!

http://www.sanfordhealth.org/newsroom/2014/08/Ghana-World-Clinics-by-2020

Nutrition Center Update!

The Lawra Nutrition Center had 7 new patients during the month of July in addition to 3 children who were still receiving treatment from June. We are very excited to report that the nutrition center helped 6 of these children recover enough to be discharged! The 4 remaining children continue to be treated and we hope that they will also recover and be discharged by the end of this month. We are excited to watch the nutrition center continue to help combat the high rates of malnutrition in children in the Lawra District  in the upcoming months.

A child being treated at the nutrition center

MedPLUS Connect Celebrates 5 Years!

This year marks the fifth year since we've been incorporated. In the past 5 years we have shipped 273,605 pounds of medical supplies worth over 2 million dollars, beginning with our first shipment of medical supplies to the Lawra District Hospital in 2008. After winning first prize and the people’s choice award in the Carolina Challenge in 2009, we were able to fully incorporate and send our first full 40ft container. In total we have now sent 16 shipments of recovered medical supplies to Ghana! Of our 16 total shipments, 10 were hospital specific containers. In 2011 we expanded to sending regional shipments, where the supplies in each container are distributed among a range of hospitals and health centers throughout the recipient region. In total, these regional containers have reached 17 hospitals and 60 health centers throughout the Upper East and Northern Regions, most of which are located in highly rural areas.

In total, these shipments have contained 252 hospital & examination beds, 1,699,894 exam & surgical gloves, and 215 pieces of medical equipment. We have been able to send high-end pieces of equipment such as anesthesia machines, ultrasounds, and autoclaves in addition to hundreds of crutches, wheelchairs, and IV poles as well as over a million consumable supplies such as syringes, needles, bandages and gloves. One of the most touching stories we’ve heard is from Dr. Abraham at the Karaga Polyclinic, a health center in the Northern Region that had recently upgraded to a hospital. As part of a regional shipment, the Karaga Polyclinic received an oxygen concentrator. Before this shipment, Dr. Abraham had never seen an oxygen concentrator in person. In writing to us after receiving the machine, he told us that it had arrived just in time to save a patient’s life who was suffering from a severe chest infection.

In the 5 years since our incorporation we have also undertaken several valuable projects in addition to sending shipments of vital medical supplies. We saw the Lawra Nutrition Rehabilitation Center evolve from its inception in 2009 to the completion of construction in 2013. In 2010 we also partnered with a Ghanaian-based NGO called EVCO Africa to establish a computer library at Weichau Health Center. Our latest undertaking is establishing the first cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region of Ghana. We are excited to look back on what we have accomplished so far and also to look forward to the future as we continue bringing healthcare to underserved areas of Ghana in the next 5 years.

A girl in Lawra, Ghana watches as supplies from a shipment are unloaded and taken to the Lawra District Hospital

Amazon Smile and iGive

We just wanted to remind everyone of two easy ways to support MedPLUS Connect while you shop online!AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same selection of products and low prices as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you use AmazonSmile, the Amazon Smile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the total of each qualifying purchase to MedPLUS. If you are someone who shops mostly through Amazon, you can give your purchases a philanthropic benefit by choosing MedPLUS Connect as your beneficiary on Amazon Smile and help us earn 0.5% of every purchase you make! You can follow this link to help MedPLUS Connect earn money while you shop through Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/87-0790691. All you have to do is keep MedPLUS Connect selected as your charity of choice. Many of you also know (and have signed up with) the internet search engine called iGive. It’s free to join and earns money for MedPLUS Connect every time you search or shop on the internet at stores such as BestBuy, Staples, and many more. Each time you make a purchase a portion is automatically donated to MedPLUS Connect, at no extra cost to you! Follow this link to check it out: http://www.igive.com/medplusconnect It may seem small, but the proceeds from each purchase adds up over time and can potentially help MedPLUS earn up to a couple hundred dollars- an amount that can help us purchase therapeutic food for the nutrition center or extra value added supplies for future containers. Thank you for all you do to help support MedPLUS Connect!

Nutrition Center Update for June

We have another exciting update on the nutrition center to share. The center treated 9 new patients and rehabilitated 7 children during the month of June! The nutrition center continues to make a great impact throughout the Lawra District and help reduce malnutrition. We're also happy to report that a new shipment of CMV from Nutriset is on its way to the nutrition center and should arrive next week. CMV is a special vitamin and mineral mix and the critical ingredient in preparing the rehabilitative food for the children treated at the nutrition center. It provides the correct balance of the vitamins and minerals needed to help children suffering from malnutrition recover. We're so glad that a new supply of CMV will soon be at the Lawra Nutrition Center to treat any new and continuing patients during the coming months.

Trainees at the recent malnutrition training at the Lawra District Hospital learning how to prepare therapeutic food

Ingredients for preparing therapeutic food at the Lawra Nutrition Center

Next Matching Day with Global Giving July 16th!

We are excited to announce that our next Matching Day with Global Giving is this week, on Wednesday July 16th! Matching starts at 9am and all donations, until matching funds run out, will be matched at 30%. That means if you donate $100, Global Giving will give MedPLUS Copnnect $130! We are continuing to fundraise for the cost of the supplies and equipment to establish the first cervical cancer and screening program in the Upper West Region of Ghana. As you know, the women in the Upper West Region currently have no access to cervical care and must travel up to 700km to receive treatment. Our cervical cancer program is partnering with an OBGYN in Ghana to integrate early screening into the existing healthcare structure and to establish a treatment center for cervical cancer at the Wa Regional Hospital, centrally located in the capital of the Upper West Region.

Unfortunately, Dr. Fofie, the dedicated physician whom we were partnering with to help establish the cervical cancer program, suffered a car accident a few months ago that left his eyesight hindered. He is still undergoing surgeries but continues to steadily recover and remains very excited about the program. However, while Dr. Fofie recovers, the Wa Regional Hospital has been searching for a new OBGYN. We are so glad that the hospital recently hired a new physician and he is expected to begin work very soon! We hope that once he is officially in Wa, we can purchase and deliver the first set of supplies for the cervical cancer program soon after.

So far we have made significant progress towards raising the funds necessary to purchase the supplies and equipment to establish the first cervical cancer screening and treatment program in the Upper West Region. However, there is still more to be done. We just need two more donations to improve our ranking on Global Giving's website which will increase the visibility of our project on their website and help us gain new donors! So even a small donation will be a huge help this matching day! Please consider sharing our project with your friends, family, and colleagues. Just $28 provides cryotherapy treatment of precancerous lesions for one woman, $50 purchases a tenaculum to screen and treat women for cervical cancer, or $100 provides screening to detect cervical cancer for 16 women.

Follow this link directly to our project page to find out more and make a donation on Wednesday or share it with your network: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/prevent-cancer-for-women-in-ghana/