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July 1, 2026 | Project C.U.R.E
Project C.U.R.E. recently partnered with Newmont Mining to facilitate a transformative Cervical Cancer Prevention Training in Ghana. From October 27–31, four midwives representing four local healthcare facilities came together for hands‑on instruction in screening and treatment techniques.
Cervical cancer is both preventable and highly treatable when detected early. Yet it remains the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives every year. In many regions, including rural Ghana, limited access to routine screening means most diagnoses occur far too late. Without meaningful intervention, more than 300,000 Ghanaian women could die from cervical cancer between 2020 and 2070.
Project C.U.R.E.’s cervical cancer initiatives are designed to change that trajectory by empowering one provider, one facility, and one community at a time with training and tools to prevent cervical cancer. The most recent training was conducted in Ghana’s southwest Ahafo Region.
Kate Akomah, a senior staff midwife, had a sense of purpose that was evident from the moment she arrived.
She approached each day with unwavering focus. She worked intently to master the visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) technique and thermal coagulation using the Liger Thermocoagulator, two evidence‑based tools that enable early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions in a single visit.
For Kate, the training meant far more than learning new skills.
“I lost my sister to cervical cancer and have her three kids,” she said . “This is very personal for me. This is very dear to my heart.”
Kate’s sister was 32 when she first received her diagnosis. Complications, treatment delays, and gaps in follow‑up care led to years of pain, uncertainty, and ultimately a devastating loss that shaped Kate’s commitment to safeguarding the health of other women in her community.
Kate recounted the long and painful journey: delayed biopsy results, a pregnancy complicated by bleeding, three consecutive days of radiation, a total hysterectomy, recurring pain, and finally, the heartache of watching her sister decline despite every effort to save her.
Kate is determined to ensure that other women have a better outcome and champions early screening, detection, and prevention in her community.
During the training, the midwives screened and treated local women.
“I am thinking about the two women we treated today,” Kate said. “They could have gotten cancer and died. Let’s come together so we can support each other as colleagues. We will be training other midwives, because they don’t know much about it.
“As healthcare workers, we don’t talk about it,” she said. “We don’t hear about it. When people get it, they are typically close to death.”
Through this training, Kate became fully certified in VIA and thermal coagulation. She returned to her facility equipped with both the skill and equipment needed to begin offering lifesaving care immediately. Kate is providing preventative treatment for pre-cancerous lesions at Terchire Health Centre in Ghana. Through her skill and compassion, countless women in the Ahafo Region will have the chance to live free from cervical cancer.
Project C.U.R.E. is honored to stand alongside partners like Newmont Mining, Liger Medical, and remarkable healthcare providers like Kate.
Prevention is possible. Treatment is possible. Hope is possible.
And with every training, every provider empowered, and every woman screened, we move one step closer to a world where cervical cancer no longer claims the lives of women who could have been saved.
