A REMOTE VILLAGE, SOME PEACE OF MIND

In the dark, early hours of morning, Pilar, Florencia and Estefa join about 25 other women from their rural home in the Andes. They set out on foot—over mountainous terrain—to the small village of Chinchaypujio. Their arrival on this cold, beautiful morning is met by a buzz of activity around the village’s health center. Women are everywhere, riding in on ponies, arriving on foot and piling off the backs of trucks.

They've come to the CerviCusco Clinic, leaving their jobs just to receive a free screening that’s saved the lives of many other Andean women: a pap test. The CerviCusco Clinic, the National Cancer Coalition (NCC) and BD have embarked on a heroic mission here to protect against the leading cause of death among Peruvian women: cervical cancer.

This is a giant step forward for 75,000 Peruvian women who have very little access to adequate health care, much less screening and preventative care. The most advanced technology pap tests available, with all the equipment needed to process them, were donated by BD.

The modern CerviCusco clinic is even equipped to handle minor surgeries. Thanks to a lab technique called liquid-based cytology, clinicians here can better determine when surgery is necessary. Introduced here by BD and the NCC, the technique allows cytologists to make more conclusive analyses of cervical cells than with a traditional pap smear. It also reduces the women's need for return trips to Chinchaypujio for repeat testing. If more advanced cancers are detected, CerviCusco will assist in obtaining free treatment for these women as well. Educating them about the availability of these free follow-up procedures for abnormal results and early stage cancer is crucial in helping the field clinics save lives.

"Thank you," says Pilar. "We have learned it's very important that we get this done."

Dr. Nikole Metcalf, Peruvian patient Rosa Flores, and Dr. Daron Ferris