In celebration of International Women’s Day which was recognized internationally on 8th March 2020. Orange Liberia, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) department, launched its sponsorship of local Liberian NGO Public Health Initiative Liberia (PHIL) in their efforts to prevent, detect, and treat very early stages of cervical cancer in Liberia.

This initiative, which is inclosed collaboration with the Liberian Cancer Society, has the objective to screen for free 7,000 Liberian women for cervical cancer in 4 counties – Montserrado, Nimba, Grand Bassa and Margibi Counties -over the following year. Cervical cancer is slow-growing cancer that has a high chance of treatment if caught at an early stage which makes these screenings a life-saving initiative for thousands of women.

PHIL began cervical cancer screenings in 2017 and has already screened 2845 women since its inception. PHIL Executive Director Ms Joyce Kilikpo accepted the request from Orange Liberia’s CSR Director Ms Sara Elizabeth Buchanan to increase the number of beneficiaries and counties visited with the support of Orange Liberia. Ms Kilikpo expressed her gratitude to Orange Liberia and the Liberian Cancer Society for empowering her and her team of Liberians to expand their mobile cervical screenings outreach. In addition, with the belief that education about cancer is very important to the health of Liberians, Orange Liberia has also committed to the Liberian Cancer Society to communicate about cancer awareness. Ms Buchanan went on to say that cervical cancer affects women of all ages and that these screenings is a concrete action showing Orange Liberia believes in generation equality as not a one-time event, but a sustainable on-going initiative to improve the health of women in Liberia. Some Orange Liberia female staff were proud of this commitment by their employer and have also volunteered their time to assist PHIL with the rollout of this initiative throughout the year.