ACHA is 1 year old

African women face five important challenges in seeking care for cervical cancer:

• poor awareness,
• fear and stigma,
• late diagnosis,
• limited access to healthcare services, and
• escalating costs.

In 2020, WHO launched the global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem and 194 countries committed to this common goal since then. However, communities have been facing barriers that prevent them from reaching this goal.

To address these difficulties, the African Cancer Health Alliance (ACHA), has developed a Cervical Cancer Knowledge Hub, a transformative initiative that we proudly supported. The collaborative support from FIND’s Women’s Health team has been instrumental, providing essential funding, project management, oversight, capacity building, and technical assistance in the fields of digital health, social sciences, and gender aspects, allowing ACHA to provide standardized information, education, and communication materials to African communities.

ACHA is a grassroots network of civil society organizations spanning 15 African countries with the mission of empowering communities to increase access to information for the prevention and control of cervical cancer. This trusted and open-source platform allows the dissemination of advocacy messages to all stakeholders involved in the fight against HPV and cervical cancer. ACHA provides communities with clear and comprehensive information that they can tailor to their specific needs and use to enhance access and control over cervical cancer, and empower themselves.

14 November 2024 marks a double celebration, with the first anniversary of ACHA and the launch of the Cervical Cancer Knowledge Hub. During ACHA’s anniversary webinar, partners revisited the inception of ACHA and presented the different groundbreaking tools developed so far to drive action to reduce the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer: their website, Cervical Cancer Knowledge Hub, and ASPIRE Scorecard, the latter one being a comprehensive assessment of countries that includes vaccination rates, treatment programmes, civil society action, and policy awareness information towards support for cervical cancer elimination, among other metrics and resources.

The journey over the next six years will demand sustained commitment to mobilize communities, support grassroots initiatives, and expand access to affordable, culturally relevant resources. But with strong political will, increased funding, and continued community engagement, ACHA’s vision of an Africa free of cervical cancer by 2030 is within reach. Together, let’s use the wealth of information provided by ACHA’s tools and resources to influence policy and support countries in their joint fight against cervical cancer.