In 2007, a young, vibrant woman named Matebello Motumi began taking antiretroviral treatment (ARTs) for HIV at Matefeng Hospital in Lesotho. There, she met another young woman already receiving the same treatment. Matebello shared her trepidation about the program with her new friend. Their conversation left Matebello feeling encouraged and empowered. With proper care and the right medications, she could look forward to a healthy and productive life.
In the following decade, Matebello got married and had two beautiful children. She continued visiting Matefeng Hospital, finding community with others in nurse and mother-led support groups and health talks. That’s where she learned about the programs available to screen for cervical cancer – a disease that women living with HIV are up to six times more likely to develop.
She was afraid, but Matebello knew being proactive about her health was smart for herself and her family. She decided to be screened. A few days later, a nurse called: Matebello tested positive for HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Women like Matebello are the reason that the George W. Bush Institute partnered with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, private companies, country governments, and communities to launch a program that layers screening and treatment for cervical cancer onto the existing HIV health system supported by PEPFAR. Our program, Go Further, makes screening and treatment for precancerous lesions accessible for women who are at the highest risk of surviving HIV, only to lose their lives from a preventable disease like HPV.
Go Further’s goal is to eliminate new cervical cancer cases among women living with HIV in twelve African countries, which have some of the highest rates of HIV prevalence and cervical cancer incidence in the world. And we know it’s working. We’re proud that Go Further has completed more than 10 million screenings for cervical cancer to date, including 7 million women living with HIV for the first time (others have been tested more than once). Go Further partner programs have also treated more than 421,000 women for precancerous lesions.
While we celebrate this progress, we must continue the fight and work to address the unique challenges posed to people living with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa, roughly 110,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, making it one of the deadliest cancers among women in the region. The global health community has set the goal to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health threat by 2030 and Go Further countries are on the right track to achieve it.
Matebello’s experience is an example of how we’ll get there. Her access to quick and effective screening allowed health workers to treat her lesions immediately, and she’s living her life cancer-free. That’s the outcome we want for all women.
Go Further is an example of how PEPFAR ensures that women not only survive HIV but thrive after their diagnosis. Since 2003, PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives. It has prevented HIV/AIDS from hollowing out whole societies, trained and supported thousands of health workers, strengthened democratic values abroad, and helped build public health infrastructure and community networks that address challenges beyond HIV, like cervical cancer.
The Department of State recently released the America First Global Health Strategy, which lays out plans for integrating vertical health systems to ensure sustainable public health programming and reduce duplication. Go Further’s model should be used as a primary lesson for integrating emerging health threats into pre-existing systems.
To ensure success stories like Matebello’s are replicated, we’ll need to see consistent improvement and investment in cervical cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and care. This starts with Congress’s assurance that PEPFAR stays the course for its next stage: a successful, multi-year transition to our partner countries. Maintaining support for PEPFAR would build on decades of progress. Women like Matebello deserve a chance for full and hopeful futures, and I’m proud of the U.S.’s continued commitment to saving their lives.
