Cervical Cancer Screening for women in Kosovo

Cervical Cancer Screening Program’s successful implementation in Kosovo’s largest municipalities has led to the screening of over 14.000 women throughout the years and it still continues. We are constantly working towards its expansion in order not to deprive women that live in rural areas or the most vulnerable ones from getting this service.

Two family doctors from the Main Family Medicine Center in Peja have been trained on how to take Pap tests, during this period. In the meantime, two contingents of Pap tests - 145 samples, have been retested between Peja and UCCK in order to improve the quality of screening.

We supported the pathology lab in Peja Hospital, who lacked any proper infrastructure to keep the samples secure through providing a locker. By the end of 2022, SMS invitations have been sent to target-group women to get tested for cervical cancer in the municipalities where the program is already implemented.

Additionally, during this quartal two awareness lectures were held to promote cervical screening program with the female staff of two primary schools in Mitrovica. 

We thank you all for your continued support on this very important project.

Cervical Cancer Screening Program’s successful implementation in Kosovo’s largest municipalities has led to the screening of 12.863 women throughout the years and it still continues. We are constantly working towards its expansion in order not to deprive women that live in rural areas or the most vulnerable ones from getting this service.

During the last quartal, two awareness lectures were held to promote cervical screening program with the female staff of two primary schools in Peja. The first lecture was organized in “Vaso Pashë Shkodrani”, where the total number of participants was 21. Based on the post-test results, there was a 24% increase in the knowledge of women who attended the training. The second lecture was held in “Sami Frashëri” school in Ozdrim/Peja, where the total number of participants was 10. According to the post-test results there was a 36.84% increase in the knowledge of women who attended the training.

As a result of the pandemic, most training is being organized online. Thus, the director of the Institute of Pathology requested our support to enroll the pathologists on online training programs/seminars on topics relevant to cervical cancer screening program, that will be held by world experts during 2022. Two pathologists/cytologists were enrolled in the International Academy of Cytology and British Association for Cytopathology Tutorial London / UK, 2022 - which was held online on 18-19 July.

Additionally, 100 Pap test kits have been donated to Peja Main Family Medicine Center. Concurrently the brochures and the promotional materials have been printed and distributed during the awareness lectures.

Your support has a significant impact in the improvement of health of Kosovo’s women, thus we are grateful for your kindness and cooperation.

Cervical Cancer Screening project's successful implementation in Kosovo’s largest municipalities has led to the screening of more than 12.000 women throughout the years and it still continues. We are constantly working towards its expansion in order not to deprive women that live in rural areas or the most vulnerable ones from getting this service.

During the last quartal, more awareness lectures on how to prevent cervical cancer have been held. Furthermore, the needed equipment and medical materials for the expansion of program in Gjilan and Obiliq have been purchased. Moreover, kits and other needed materials to conduct free pap tests in Peja municipality have been donated.

In the next quarter, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health, we hope to finally expand the project in two new municipalities.

Your support has a significant impact in the improvement of health of Kosovo’s women, thus we are grateful for your kindness and cooperation.

Cervical Cancer Screening Program’s successful implementation in Kosovo’s largest municipalities has led to the screening of more than 11.000 women throughout the years and it still continues. We are constantly working towards its expansion in order not to deprive women that live in rural areas or the most vulnerable ones from getting this service.

During the last quartal, two more awareness lectures on how to prevent cervical cancer have been held, only this time with medical staff from primary care. Furthermore, the needed equipment and medical materials for the expansion of program in Gjilan and Obiliq have been purchased. In close cooperation with Program’s working committee, the plan of Cervical Cancer Screening Program for the year of 2022 has been designed.

Your support has a significant impact in the improvement of health of Kosovo’s women, thus we are grateful for your kindness and cooperation.

The implementation of the Cervical Cancer Program in conitnues despite the challenges due to COVID-19. These last three months, hundreds of women were screened with pap smear tests in different municipalities where the programme is being implemented. 

The expansion of the program in two additional municipalities. in Gjilan and Obiliq, is in the last phases and will start during November 2021. Additionally, continuing capacity building training for healthcare professionals on how to take a Pap smear is necessary to achieve both higher quality and capacity, particularly for family medicine physicians who require the right to administer the test. Within this capacity building training is also the preparation for healthcare professionals on usage of the e-PapTest application that digitalizes administrative information and statistics, further enhancing the quality of the program.

This year we have held awareness lectures with six different middle schools of Prishtina, Peja, Mitrovica and Prizren. Two more lectures are planned to happen in this quarter of the year. 

We thank all of you for your continues support on this extremely important programme for the health of women in Kosovo.