Telehealth for Cervical Cancer Screening & Care in Uganda

Telehealth for Cervical Cancer Screening & Care in Uganda

The project aims is to improve existing cervical cancer screening services by adding colposcopy service which currently are unavailable at UCI. With a phone-based colposcopy called the gynocular the health care providers at the project site would be able to overcome the limitations. The colposcope would help the detection of cervical cancer lesions that need care not available at the frontline facilities at the early stage of the disease.

The project is implemented at a satellite clinic in Mayuge, Eastern Ugandan where health care providers would be trained both at both at UCI and at the frontline/satellite clinics on how to use the digital system for Cervical cancer (CaCx) screening and collect evidence on the impact of the tele-healt solutions on CaCx screening and management.

The mobile colposcopy (gynocular) consists of an ordinary mobile smartphone with mounted lenses for magnification. This colposcopy would capture and securely transmit the cervical images from the satellite clinic to UCI where experienced gynaecologist will examine them and advise the frontline health worker.
The key groups: Ministry of Health, Healthcare providers at the Uganda Cancer Institute and the frontline facilities, Patients and Women at risk of cervical cancer, Telecommunication operators, Uganda Communications commission, Nation Information Technology Authority of Uganda and Ministry of ICT.

Challenges to address

The situation of cancer screening in Uganda is absent in many places, particularly in rural aeras. There are few health workers with expertise in cancer screening or cancer management. Many primary health workers at rural frontline health facilityies lackcancer expertise,and often lack key screening services such as colposcopy.

Activities

• Procuring mobile application, mobile phones and server set up.
• Stakeholder engagement and situation analyses
• Training of UCI staff including nurses, gynaecologists and frontline clinics on mobile colposcopy and cervical cancer screening.
• Focus group discussion and interviews with patients and other stakeholders, including remote site visit.
• Cervical cancer screening
• Mobile colposcopy system maintenance and continuous improvement