MS. KAREN NAKAWALA & TEAL SISTERS FOUNDATION ZAMBIA
Teal Sisters is about fighting Cervical Cancer, giving hope to those affected and to survivors, and encouraging as many women to go for screening. It’s about giving love and support to one another believing that together we can indeed kick Cervical Cancer to the curb. It’s about raising awareness because together we can save a sister out there.
Karen Nakawala, a cervical cancer survivor and World Health Organization Advocate, is the founder of Teal Sisters Foundation Zambia. A strong advocate of early cervical cancer screening, she started Teal Sisters speaking on radio and preaching of warnings for women that have always been considered taboo in her country. Her private Facebook Group Page that started as a safe place for women to openly discuss their conditions and be vulnerable without being judged has over 137,000 members.
Zambia has the third-highest burden of cervical cancer in the WHO Africa Region, behind the Kingdom of Eswatini and Malawi. But that burden, says Nakawala, is not a result of only the linguistic taboos. The limited number of female doctors also prevents many women from having a gynecological examination, partly because their husband refuses to let them be examined by a man.
The Philippines share some of these barriers toward cervical screening. It is CerviQ’s goal to partner with Ms. Karen Nakawala and its Teal Sister Foundation Zambia, to come up with our own branch – Teal Sister Philippines.