Cancer
What We Do › Cancer
“People need to be educated to ensure they stay as healthy as possible and that means I must take the time to chat with each one. For example, very few women know that cervical cancer—which is one of the leading causes of mortality among women in Uzbekistan—can be caused by sexually transmitted infections such as human papilloma virus.”
Delfusa Kurnanbekova, obstetrician/gynecologist, Tashkent Women’s Wellness Center (Tashkent, Uzbekistan/Chicago, Illinois, partnership)
Although cancer mortality has been steadily decreasing since the early 1990s in Europe as a whole, trends in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia reflect just the opposite. Differences in lifestyle and environmental exposure are likely causes for these elevated rates and may be attributed not only to certain policies of the former Soviet Union, but also to the many difficult political, social, and economic transitions these countries have been facing since its collapse. For newly democratic governments, cancer prevention and other health system reforms often take a back seat to other competing priorities.
Projects
AIHA’s efforts to improve the scope and availability of high-quality cancer prevention, early diagnosis, and effective treatment and support services through specific programmatic activities include:
Primary Healthcare Partnerships
With funding from the US Agency for International Development, AIHA began establishing and managing a network of primary healthcare partnerships in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 1998. Through training—and sometimes the re-training—of clinicians, the goal of these partnerships is to ensure that people of all ages have access to comprehensive, continuous, and coordinated care. Read more...
Healthy Communities Partnerships
Smoking, high-fat foods, pollution, and other factors can all contribute to high rates of cancer in a given community. Using time-tested strategies for engaging and empowering individuals to play an active role in maintaining their own health and improving the safety and health status of their towns, AIHA’s Healthy Communities partners join forces with local stakeholders to assess and prioritize problems, achieve consensus on appropriate ways of addressing the issues, and implement solutions that focus on quality of life issues, as well as medical concerns such as cancer. Read more...
Hospital-based Partnerships
AIHA’s first partnerships linked US hospitals with counterpart institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia to address a wide range of clinical specialties, including cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Read more...
Cancer Information Resources
Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA’s strategy for sustainable healthcare programs. For more information about cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and support, please visit the following links:
» EurasiaHealth Knowledge Network
» AIHA Clinical Practice Guideline: Cervical Cancer Screening
» Articles
» AIHA Success Stories
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