1. Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon Partners to
Fight Cervical Cancer in Botswana
By Ehsanollah Bayat

2. Introduction
• In early 2015, the public-private partnership
organization Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, which strives to
significantly reduce the number of cases of cervical and
breast cancer in sub-Saharan Africa, reported on the
success of its collaboration with the American Society for
Clinical Pathology (ASCP).
The solution to the problem began in 2013, when
members of the ASCP, the preeminent body devoted to
furthering the progress of the clinical laboratory
diagnostic sciences, were contacted by members of
Botswana’s health ministry concerned about a backlog of
thousands of Pap smears.

3. Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon
• The pathologists leveraged Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon’s strong
existing connections in Botswana to make the process of
addressing the backlog run more smoothly and efficiently.
ASCP members were able to review more than 3,600 slide
tests. This resulted in the confirmation and swift referral of
nearly 24 cases of late-stage cervical cancer, as well as close to
200 findings of cancer that had not yet spread beyond the
cervix.
Authorities count more than 250,000 cervical cancer deaths
worldwide annually. Most of these individual and community
tragedies are preventable, given early diagnosis and
appropriate treatment, which are unfortunately limited
throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa.

4. Conclusion
• Because of inadequate public health programs in
the region, and exacerbated by endemic
HIV/AIDS, deaths from infection-based cancers
like cervical cancer are far more widespread
than in the developed world.
Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon hopes that through its
powerful collaborative network, this situation
will quickly improve.