Preventie, screening en behandeling van baarmoederhalskanker in LMIC - Jelle Stekelenburg en Jogchum Beltman
10:25 - 12:25
Baarmoederhalskanker is een zeldzame ziekte in Nederland. Nationale introductie van het BVO in de jaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw hebben hier mede voor gezorgd. Hoe anders is het in de rest van de wereld, met name de lage en midden inkomenslanden, waar het merendeel van de vrouwen geen toegang hebben tot basale gezondheidszorg, laat staan een nationaal bevolkingsonderzoek voor baarmoederhalskanker. Wat zijn de verwoestende gevolgen op epidemiologisch-, sociaal- economisch-, maar ook op persoonlijk en medisch vlak voor deze vaak jonge vrouwen die door de ziekte getroffen worden? Hoe kan deze kanker worden voorkomen en of worden behandeld en wat zijn de mogelijkheden passend bij de context van dit soort landen? Jelle en Jogchum nemen jullie op reis!
Sprekers
Prof. Jelle Stekelenburg combines his job as Consultant Obs & Gyn at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden with holding a chair as Professor International Aspects of Reproductive Health, in particular Safe Motherhood, at the University of Groningen.
His professional drive is based on, on one hand, the observation that motherhood is still not safe for many underprivileged women all over the world, but mainly in low resource settings, and, on the other hand, acknowledgment of the right to access the best possible standard of maternal health. State parties, governments, multilateral health organisations and individual health professionals have the immediate obligation to work on the progressive realisation of the highest possible standard of reproductive, sexual and maternal health.
Prof. Stekelenburg’s activities focus on research and education. He collaborates with PhD-candidates from all over the world, aiming to design evidence-based interventions in different contexts that are effective in improving maternal and neonatal health outcome indicators. In education he takes every opportunity to teach his students about what still needs to be done to reach the aim of safe motherhood for all.
Since 2021, he is the Principal Investigator of PRESCRIP-TEC. The Prevention and Screening Innovation Project Toward Elimination of Cervical Cancer (PRESCRIP-TEC) is a three-year project (February 2021 – January 2024) that focuses its research on increasing the adoption of cervical cancer screening in resource-poor or hard-to-reach settings of Bangladesh, India, Uganda and Slovakia. PRESCRIP-TEC leads to effective and innovative cervical cancer screening, including direct treatment and follow-up for women in these four countries, improving availability, accessibility, acceptability and, quality of health care services.
Jogchum Beltman works as a gynaecologist oncologist at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) since 2003. He completed his fellowship oncology at the same institution where he was trained by his mentors who also happened to be the founders of the COBRAdagen: Prof. dr. Baptist Trimbos and Prof. dr. Lex Peters.
It was Lex Peters who introduced him into the Female Cancer Foundation (FCF), an organisation founded by Lex and which strives for global eradication of cervical cancer by implementing screening programs in many LMICs. Just like Lex, Jogchum had witnessed during his early work as doctor in Malawi (tropenarts) many tragic cases of often very young mothers dying of the consequences of cervical cancer. Most of these women have little access to health care, are voiceless and powerless.
It is this believe in the global eradication of cervical cancer, a disease with is preventable and mainly is situated in LMICs, that Jogchum has joined FCF. In this role he has undertaken many visits to partnering countries of FCF for both clinical or research related supervision of programs and teaching. It is these underserved women who are most at risk for cervical cancer.
Since 2021, FCF and LUMC are also part of PRESCRIP-TEC. The Prevention and Screening Innovation Project Toward Elimination of Cervical Cancer (PRESCRIP-TEC) focuses its research on increasing the adoption of cervical cancer screening in resource-poor or hard-to-reach settings of Bangladesh, India, Uganda and Slovakia. The aim of the project is to lead to effective and innovative cervical cancer screening, including improving availability, accessibility, acceptability and, quality of health care services.