NNCTR Educates Health Workers AND Children About Cancer In Nepal

Many community health care workers attended the cancer awareness program sponsored by NNCTR.

Nearly a year ago, with the assistance and support of INCTR, NNCTR was established as its representative in Nepal. NNCTR is located in a small building provided by Sheer Memorial Hospital at Banepa, Nepal. Banepa is a small town situated 26 kilometers east of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. One of the prestigious universities of Nepal, Kathmandu University (KU) is in the Banepa valley and the KU Medical School (KUMS) is also functioning on the premises of the Sheer Memorial Hospital.

One of the objectives of NNCTR is to work in close cooperation with INCTR to improve the access of the common people in Nepal to cancer care. To do this, NNCTR is determined to work with other organizations and personnel dedicated to cancer care activities, particularly the Nepal Cancer Relief Society (NCRS) and its district organizations. We have selected 11 district organizations in which to initiate cancer education programs.

NNCTR operates its cancer education and prevention activities from this facility in Banepa, Nepal.

Things have been going well. We held a one-week workshop to "train the trainers" from these 11 districts and we hope to have some follow-up programs. NNCTR is not currently in a position to serve all of these districts, but we will will select a few of them, depending upon their interest and commitment, for future activities.

Above and below: By reaching school-aged children of Nepal, NNCTR hopes to raise cancer awareness and increase opportunities for prevention and early detection.

NNCTR/INCTR (Nepal), with its principle of collaboration, has established working relations with Scheer Memorial Hospital (SMH), KUMS, Bhaktapur Cancer Care Center (BCCC), TU Teaching Hospital, Bir Hospital, Banepa Municipality, the District Health Office, Kabhre and many other organizations. We have initiated community education programs. With the assistance of INCTR, NNCTR has signed an agreement with IARC/WHO in Lyon, France, for a cervical cancer screening program (CCSP) in Banepa. IARC has provided the necessary financial and other assistance for training medical personnel for the program. The one-year screening program is intended to reach 5,000 women. Similar programs are being established at Bhaktapur and Bharatpur Cancer Hospital. SMH is providing the necessary technical and other support for the screening program at Banepa. KUMS medical students are interested in extending voluntary services to the screening program. In this way, NNCTR/INCTR (Nepal) is developing a healthy network of cancer care activities in Nepal.

At this stage, NNCTR is working primarily to develop a suitable education program in Nepal. We are also developing education materials for awareness and manpower development. With the awareness program we are reaching community health workers as well as schoolchildren of adolescent age (grades 7-10) for cancer education. Educating this age group will promote healthier lifestyles which may result in cancer prevention. We have completed education programs in 22 schools in Kabhre District and in 10 schools in 10 other districts, reaching 6,000-7,000 students altogether. We also organized a one-day workshop for 40 community-level health workers in Kabhre District. The District Health Officer was very impressed with the program. We are receiving many requests for conducting similar programs from different community organizations.

Several medical schools and institutions are being established in Nepal. If the cancer education module under consideration for KUMS medical students (to be developed in conjunction with INCTR) is successful, we could establish working relations with other medical schools. That will ultimately help to minimize the problems of trained manpower at all levels.

NNCTR, with the close cooperation of Dr. Y.P. Singh of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, is also conducting a workshop entitled "Nursing Oncology Update" at his hospital. Depending upon its success we may undertake similar workshops in other hospitals and medical institutions.

Our one-year performance clearly indicates that NNCTR/INCTR (Nepal) is "on the move" and we have every intent of continuing on this trajectory.

Submitted by Dr. Surendra B. Bade Shrestha, National Coordinator, NNCTR / INCTR Nepal