Doctors in Burkina Faso are using a simple and low cost method to detect cervical cancer at clinics throughout the country.
The test, which uses plain white vinegar, is expected to save thousands of lives.
Dr. Yacomba Ouedraogo runs the cervical cancer prevention program at the Jhapiego clinic in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.
He said that cervical cancer has become the most common type of cancer in women in that country, but the resources of treating it are extremely limited.
He added that detecting and treating cervical cancer in its early stages has recently become much easier.
Doctors there are taking a cotton swab dipped in distilled white vinegar – the product you can buy at any market in Africa – and then rubbing it on the opening of a woman’s uterus, which is called the cervix.
Once the vinegar is applied, any pre cancerous or cancerous cells will turn white.
Dr. Stanisbas Paul Nebie has been using the vinegar test on his patients since 2010.
He says that unlike other tests which are expensive and time consuming as well as requiring sending cell samples to labs, sometimes overseas, the vinegar test is very simple.
Nebie says doctors can see any abnormal lesions immediately. If the vinegar test detects pre-cancerous cells, they can be treated during the same visit using a cryogenic freezing technique.
At the clinic in Ouagadougou, women pay only $4.00 for the test and follow-up treatment if abnormal cells need to be frozen off.
According to Dr. Nebie this is a bargain considering the high cost of radiology or surgery if the cancer is not detected early. He said health clinics, even in the most remote village, can and are performing the vinegar test and referring patients for treatment.
Cervical cancer continues to kill women because many of them don’t know that it is a real problem. This is a challenge in villages to convince women who don’t feel sick at all to pay for a test for a disease they don’t know exists.
In developing countries women go for annual routine screening called PAP smears. The Burkina Faso doctors hope that with the vinegar test, they will bring the number of cervical cancer deaths in the country to zero in the not so distant future.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says cervical cancer kills about 250,000 women worldwide each year and that four out of five of those women are in low income countries like Burkina Faso.
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