Rwanda: UR Medical Students to Train on How to Prevent Cervical Cancer

As part of efforts to prevent the high risks of cervical cancer in women, at least 50 students from the University of Rwanda’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences are set to undertake a cervical cancer prevention course.
The online course managed by e-oncologia from the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) is sponsored by Sphera Global Health Care.
Official in charge of social corporate projects, Sphere Global Health Care, Andre Malet said “The methodology is solely online and participants are supported by a qualified tutor, who will guide them through virtual classrooms and forum discussions”.
The course designed by ICO staff is expected to keep medical professionals updated on the latest procedures. It is accredited by the “Accreditation Council of Oncology in Europe (ACOE)” and by the “Commission for Continuing Education of Spanish National Health System.
Dr Stephen Rulisa, the dean at College of Medicine and Health sciences stated that the collaboration will improve the nationwide fight against cancer.
“When you have more people trained, more awareness is created and diseases are detected at an early stage followed by immediate onset of treatment,” said Dr Rulisa.
Rulisa who is also a trained obstetrician gynecologist added that although gynecological cancers have been the initial focus, upcoming trainings will explore other diseases.
“We are dealing with gynaecological cancers first, but in future we shall expand to have many students take on the course,” he added.
The Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO) through its e-learning programme, e-oncologia, offers a consolidated teaching methodology of virtual training grouped into five programmes, 48 courses that have been translated into five languages, with more 13,000 participants around the world.
Cervical cancer remains one of the commonest cancers with 3.5 million women between the ages 15 and 44 being at risk.
The Human Papilloma Virus centre at ICO currently estimates that 1,366 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 804 succumb to the disease annually within the country.
The six week training programme will begin on Monday February 15.