Two weeks of fighting cervical cancer in the heart of Africa

Two weeks and more than twenty patients with invasive tumors. A team of five professionals and nine students from the University of Navarra have traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to study and prevent cervical cancer. Elikia is the name of the expedition and means Hope in Lingala. This health team arrived in the capital of Congo last July 2nd and have established a free screening at the Monkole Hospital. "Elikia seeks to implement a sustainable method for Congolese women," explains 5th year medical student Leyre Rodriguez. "Here in Congo and in Africa, it is the most deadly oncological disease for women."

Cervical cancer is caused in more than 95% of cases by HPV, Human Papilloma Virus. The absence of vaccines against this pathogen makes it necessary to study new ways to prevent these invasive tumors. Elikia is not only a free enquiry but also a research to fight against this disease in Africa. Mónica Gutiérrez, a gynecologist at the Clínica Universidad de Navarraexplains what the study behind the screening consists of: "Basically, we are investigating whether a sample collected by the patient herself is as effective as a enquiry taken by the doctor. And we are very happy, because the results are very positive."

For the first time, since Elikia started in 2017, a microbiologist from the Clínica Universidad de Navarra has been working this year at Monkole's own laboratory . Dr. Gabriel Reina has been in charge of analyzing all the samples that have been arriving from the enquiry in order to detect those positive for HPV and thus be able to treat them. "We do two types of tests," he says, "the first is a PCR, which is the standard system for measuring HPV. And the second is a cheaper and more sustainable test in the poorer context of Congo. Despite being a less rigorous test the results are very similar."

The Elikia team, led by Dr. Luis Chiva, director of Gynecology at Clínica Universidad de Navarra, returns to Spain this July 14. After the enquiry and the research, they are now planning how to improve prevention techniques for subsequent years.

Imae: The University of Navarra team with staff of Monkole Hospital.