Dedicated to decreasing cervical and breast cancer-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon leads healthcare and awareness initiatives in a number of countries, including a recently launched program in Tanzania that utilizes mobile technology.

1. Pink Ribbon Red
Ribbon Leverages
Technology to Address
Cervical Cancer
BY EHSANOLLAH BAYAT

2. Dedicated to decreasing
cervical and breast
cancer-related deaths in
sub-Saharan Africa, Pink
Ribbon Red Ribbon leads
healthcare and
awareness initiatives in a
number of countries,
including a recently
launched program in
Tanzania that utilizes
mobile technology.

3. The project helps women
gain access to quality
cancer care services by
covering all the
transportation costs for
women traveling from
rural communities to the
Bugando Medical Centre
(BMC) in Mwanza and
the Ocean Road Cancer
Institute (ORCI) in Dar es
Salaam.

4. Funded through a grant from the
country’s top mobile
communication operator,
Vodacom Tanzania, the
program allows women to use
mobile phones to instantly pay
for bus tickets via Vodacom’s
mobile money service.

5. The project capitalizes on the
fact that more than 70 percent
of adults in Tanzania own a
mobile phone and at least 90
percent can use mobile financial
services.

6. Transportation Project
 Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon has been partnering with local
advocates in Tanzania since 2013 and launched its
transportation project in 2015 in partnership with
Tanzania Marketing and Communication Limited, the
national Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and
Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation in
Tanzania.
 In July 2015, the program facilitated transportation for its
first five patients with cervical cancer as they travelled
from the Iringa Region to the ORCI for radiation
treatment.