According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2018, more women on the African continent died as a result of cervical cancer than from breast cancer. Prof. Dr. Stefanie Klug, head of the Chair of Epidemiology, presented current data on this issue at two international workshops in Egypt and Gabon.
Egypt workshop
At the launch of the German-Egyptian Network for Advanced Genomic Medicine and Population Health (GE-GPx), the network's first round table and workshop for young scientists was held at the Goethe-Institut in Cairo, Egypt. The GE-GPx network was founded by TUM-Alumna Dr. Yasmine Aguib (Molecular Biotechnology specialising in molecular medicine) and Prof. Dr. Sir Magdi Yacoub (Imperial College London and Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation), among others. The event, which was sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), was also attended by Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Egypt.
A multidisciplinary group of German and Egyptian experts from the fields of communicable and non-communicable diseases, genomics and bioinformatics participated in the “round table” discussion. In this context, Prof. Klug presented the lecture “Women's health & global cancer from a population perspective”. “The main emphasis here concerned global cancer rates with a focus on Africa and the health of African women,” explained Prof. Klug. “Very high rates of breast and cervical cancer are particularly prevalent in less developed countries. Furthermore, alarming forecasts have emerged as to how the number of cancer cases in Africa will develop in future.”
The “round table” was followed by an interdisciplinary workshop involving doctoral students, medical doctors and young researchers. This included lectures and brainstorming sessions to generate collaborative ideas for the integration of genomic medicine and the improvement of the burden of disease in Africa and worldwide. Prof. Klug also spoke at the workshop on the topic “Women's health in Africa: status & priorities”. In it, she addressed, among other things, preventive measures such as protection from (sexual) violence, prevention of malnutrition, promotion of early cancer detection and vaccination against human papilloma viruses (HPV) in order to improve the health of African women throughout their lives.
Gabon workshop
The workshop in Lambaréné/Gabun, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and initiated by Prof. Dr. Clarissa Prazeres da Costa from the Institute of Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine, was held on the topic “Challenges to Women's Health in Sub-Saharan Africa”. It addressed three key issues for women's health in the region, namely female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) (bilharzia - a worm disease), cervical cancer and cesarean sections.
Furthermore, connecting existing global health programmes for HIV, AIDS and malaria with cervical cancer and FGS prevention was also a key issue. The aim of this workshop was to develop a blueprint that is both appropriate and scalable for future global health activities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof. Klug's lecture dealt with the topic “Cervical Cancer and HPV in Sub-Saharan Africa”. “In this region, the infection rates with human papillomaviruses (HPV) and new cases of cervical cancer (cervical carcinoma) are the highest in the world,” said Prof. Klug. “Therefore, the aim of my presentation was to provide information about these diseases and their additional risk factors such as smoking or frequently changing sexual partners.” The problem, however, is that the state health insurance system in sub-Saharan Africa is very rudimentary and preventive examinations are frequently not free of charge as a result.
Participants of the international workshop in Gabon were mainly midwives, nurses, medical students and gynaecologists from different African countries such as Gabon, Kenya, Cameroon or Mozambique and also from Germany.
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Contact:
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Klug
Chair of Epidemiology
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 56
80992 München
phone: 089 289 24950
e-mail: stefanie.klug(at)tum.de
Text: Romy Schwaiger
Photos: Chair of Epidemiology/TUM Cairo