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Return on Investment: Labor of Love Paying Off

In July 2012, President and Mrs. Bush traveled to Zambia’s Kabwe District to refurbish the Ngungu Clinic, as a labor of love. On July 3,...

In July 2012, President and Mrs. Bush traveled to Zambia’s Kabwe District to refurbish the Ngungu Clinic, as a labor of love. On July 3, after a lot of hard work from the President, Mrs. Bush and other Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon (PRRR) partners, the Ngungu Clinic was commissioned as a Cervical and Breast Cancer Clinic.

Since the clinic opened, the number of women enrolling for breast and cervical cancer screening has been astounding. After the first six weeks of operation, through tremendous leadership and dedication of the clinic’s staff, more than 500 women were screened. Of these, more than 60 women were treated for precancerous lesions, restoring hope for a better quality of life because the lesions were detected early. More than 100 others, whose more advanced lesions might have killed them, were referred for care at the Kabwe General Hospital or the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka.

The excellent work and results from Kabwe District did not escape the attention of the press. On September 1, 2012, Kabwe’s District Medical Officer, Dr. Abel Kabalo, was interviewed by the Daily Mail, where he reported: “As of yesterday (Wednesday) we had a total of 574 women who had been to Ngungu Health Centre for cervical cancer screening.” Thanks to President and Mrs. Bush for their labor of love, and to all our valued PRRR partners. There is more to come on the great return on investment we are seeing. ABOUT PINK RIBBON RED RIBBON The George W. Bush Institute, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS introduced a new initiative to expand the availability of vital cervical and breast cancer screening and treatment for women at risk in developing nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon corporate partners include BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Bristol-Myers Squibb, Caris Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Merck and QIAGEN.

This post was written by Doyin Oluwole, MD, FRCP, the founding Executive Director of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, based at the George W. Bush Institute.