Poverty, gender inequality, lack of education and health services are just a few reasons why very few women have been screened in Nepal. Too often, cancer victims present at a far advanced stage, when it’s too late to save their lives. This problem is compounded by geographical isolation in rural areas. This is why the NNCTR/INCTR Nepal plans to screen women for cervical and breast cancer in the Kathmandu Valley and to provide cancer education sessions to their families in early 2011.

To reach out to rural communities, NNCTR/INCTR Nepal organizes screening camps where results and necessary medications are provided on the spot, and patients with positive screening results are referred for follow-up at no cost. Additionally, participants in the screening camps attend breast selfexamination workshops and cancer education sessions.

“I was so happy to find that both the screening and medication were free of cost. I would not have been able to afford or access these services otherwise,” said a screening camp participant recently. Since it was founded in 2002, NNCTR/INCTR Nepal has screened 15,460 Nepali women for cervical cancer and 2800 for breast cancer in collaboration with the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR), the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation (ACCF), PHASE Worldwide and the Australian Embassy through their Direct Aid Program (DAP).

NNCTR/INCTR Nepal was selected by the GlobalGiving Foundation to participate in its Open Challenge, a fundraising opportunity for non-profit organizations that are doing work that has impact around the world. To succeed, NNCTR/INCTR Nepal had to raise $5,000 from at least 50 donors from November 29th to December 22nd, 2010. This target, which is sufficient to enable NNCTR/INCTR Nepal to screen 500 women for the two most common women's cancers in Nepal (breast and cervical cancer), was exceeded, and has led to INCTR earning a permanent spot on GlobalGiving’s website, the internationally recognized marketplace for philanthropy. For more information and to make an on-line donation, please visit NNCTR/INCTR Nepal’s project web page, http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/screen-nepali-women-for-cervicaland-breast-cancer/.