ALL IT TAKES IS A VACCINE,
TO PROTECT A CHILD FROM CERVICAL CANCER.
WHY CERVICAL CANCER?
Cervical Cancer kills 1 in 52 women in India and it is always associated with a preceding HPV vaccine.
The HPV vaccine is administered to adolescents to protect them from HPV infections which may predispose to cervical cancer in adult life. That's right, a vaccine that can protect against cancer exists.
Yet, 94% of Indians are unaware of the existence of this vaccine. This combined with the fact that it may cost over Rs. 9,000 to vaccinate a child means that most children never receive this vaccine.
OUR WORK
IDENTIFYING THE BENEFICIARIES
Reach Lives conducted extensive fieldwork across the state of Goa to identify eligible and in-need children. A group of 200+ children across 10 orphanages were identified from across Goa as eligible beneficiaries.
FUNDRAISING EFFORTS
Reach Lives worked with the Goa College of Architecture in organizing various fundraising events including the WeCan 2020 marathon which was attending by over 500 runners and walkers in Goa.
AWARENESS PROGRAMS
Over the course of the next month we organized and executed several health awareness and promotion campaigns. The objective of these events was to educate the masses on the importance of screening for cervical changes among adult women and the need to vaccinate children during adolescence.
VACCINATION PROGRAM
Starting in January, 2020, we worked with Manipal Hospital, Goa to engage the identified communities and organize vaccination clinics free of charge. This project was completed in November, 2020 and a total of 250 children were vaccinated.