Hostels for Hope: Easing the Burden for Women with Cancer

This article was originally published on www.impatientoptimists.org on February 2, 2017.
Sarah* is a 46-year-old mother of five and a cervical cancer survivor living in Tanzania. Survival wasn’t easy. She had to travel over 300 miles from her village to one of only two treatment facilities in the entire country; once she got there, she had no place to stay. Like Sarah, many of the over 10,000 Tanzanian women diagnosed with cervical or breast cancer each year face two major challenges – how to pay for transportation to the capital, Dar es Salaam, and where to stay for the duration of their treatment. For some women, the challenge is too great and they have no choice but to stay home and die. Others, like Sarah, make the difficult trip to the hospital, and struggle to survive through the treatment. Many sleep on the hospital grounds, or on the street, while being treated.
We at Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon believe that no woman should die of cervical or breast cancer, no matter where she lives. So we decided it was time for the women of Tanzania to have “homes away from home” near the country’s only two cancer treatment centers that could save their lives. We partnered with the American Cancer Society , the Bush Institute , HKS, Inc ., Southern Methodist University , and T-MARC Tanzania to sponsor the Hostels for Hope competition.
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Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - February 3, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Access Career Comparative Effectiveness Research Disparities Global Development Global Health Health Reform Patients Patients' Rights Publc Health Quality Women's Health Source Type: blogs