Bridging the Divide: Why Health on the Roll Mobile Clinic Brings New Hope

November 2024

The most profound advances in human health often can be found at the intersection of academic expertise, accessible and equitable healthcare, and strategic philanthropy.  

The Center for Global Oncology works to bridge cultural and geographic divides through their mobile clinic program.  

Through the Health on the Roll mobile clinic program, the Center for Global Oncology, a shared center with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health, provides human papilloma virus (HPV) testing and treatment to women in low- and middle-income countries who do not have access to healthcare due to distance, and in many cases, cultural barriers.  

Funded by the John R. Flanagan Charitable Foundation, “HPV-Associated Cancers Prevention and Control Program in Mali and Nigeria” provides human papillomavirus (HPV) testing and treatment to patients in these situations.

HPV-associated cancers are largely preventable through HPV vaccination, testing, cancer screening, and treatment. Low- and middle-income countries, however, often lack the resources to deploy these types of country-wide programs.  

As a result, HPV infections spread widely, and its related cancers go undiagnosed until a late stage when effective treatment options are limited or unavailable.  

This unfortunately results in many preventable deaths.  

With the Health on the Roll mobile clinic, members of low-and middle-income communities in Mali, and Nigeria now have a way to get screened for HPV wherever they are.

Health on the Roll mobile clinic provides HPV testing and treatment to women in Mali and Nigeria.

Lifang Hou, MD, PhD, Mamoudou Maiga, MD, PhD, and the Center for Global Oncology team use a novel, evidence-proven approach for high-risk HPV screening: self-collected sample-based testing implemented through their mobile clinic. Self-collected samples result in high-quality, accurate HPV detection.  

These results—along with the use of mobile clinics—have the potential to overcome many individual and system-level barriers, including: 

• Removing the need for testing by a clinician potentially of the opposite sex—a cultural/religious barrier in most of Sub-Saharan Africa;  
• Eliminating travel time to one of the limited brick-and-mortar clinics and the financial burden of a visit; and  
• Overcoming systemic barriers such as overburdened clinics, lack of trained clinicians, and a lack of supplies and equipment.  

"Cervical cancer is largely preventable by HPV vaccination and cervical screening for early detection and treatment,” Hou said.

The Center for Global Oncology is a shared center with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University and Havey Institute for Global Health. 

Lifang Hou, MD, PhD is a member of Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM). Hou and Mamoudou Maiga, MD, PhD are members of Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS).

To learn more about the Center for Global Oncology, visit their website. 

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