“Screening & Treating Women with Cervical Cancer (Zimbabwe)” – Medecins Sans Frontiers

Since 2008 MSF Australia has harnessed International Women’s Day (IWD) to communicate about women’s health in the contexts within which MSF works. In 2020 MSF Australia wished to create content around Cervical Cancer screening in Zimbabwe and engaged Digital Storytellers to work with them to elicit and edit together two narratives and stories from footage that had been captured on the ground. One story about a Cervical Cancer survivor and one story about the Screening and Treating of women in Zimbabwe. Approximately 311,000 women died from cervical cancer in 2018, which is more than pregnancy-related causes. Cervical cancer is caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is preventable via a simple two-dose vaccine for children aged 9-14.But not everyone has equal access to the vaccine: 85% of deaths occurred in low-and middle-income countries. MSF is working to address this gap by participating in vaccination campaigns such as in Malawi.