Cervical Cancer Prevention Project Aligned With SDG 3
This paper presents a comprehensive project proposal for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (BCCSP) at Doctors Community Hospital in Prince George County, Maryland. The initiative, titled "Empowering Societies to be Free of Cervical Cancer," is designed to run from January 2024 to December 2025. Grounded in UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Target 7), the project targets African-American women — a group disproportionately affected by cervical cancer — through integrated preventive, curative, and palliative strategies. The paper outlines the program's logical model, stakeholder analysis, implementation plan, and potential unintended consequences, with the overarching aim of reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the county.
- Introduction to the BCCSP and Project Overview: Background and scope of the BCCSP initiative
- Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Cervical Cancer: SDG 3 alignment and cervical cancer burden data
- Logical Model: Inputs, activities, outputs, and projected outcomes
- Stakeholder Analysis: Internal and external stakeholder roles and engagement
- Implementation Plan: Two-year rollout timeline and medical camp strategy
- Unintended Consequences: Cultural barriers and dependency risks anticipated
- Conclusion: Summary of goals, outcomes, and SDG 3 alignment
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What makes this paper effective
- The proposal is well-organized into clearly labeled functional sections — introduction, SDG alignment, logical model, stakeholder analysis, implementation, and consequences — giving it a professional, grant-ready structure.
- It grounds its public health intervention in a specific UN framework (SDG 3, Target 7), connecting a local program to global health priorities and demonstrating awareness of the broader policy landscape.
- The stakeholder analysis matrix is detailed and practical, addressing each stakeholder's influence, contribution, potential to block the program, and the corresponding engagement strategy — showing sophisticated program management thinking.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses a logic model to link program inputs, activities, outputs, and short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes. This is a standard tool in public health program planning and evaluation, and its inclusion signals graduate-level competency in health program design and accountability frameworks.
Structure breakdown
The paper moves logically from context (program background and SDG justification) to planning tools (logical model and stakeholder matrix) to execution (implementation timeline and medical camp strategy) and finally to risk management (unintended consequences). The conclusion synthesizes all sections by restating key statistics, long-term outcomes, and the SDG connection. This mirrors the structure of a formal program proposal submitted for grant funding.
Introduction to the BCCSP and Project Overview
The Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program (BCCSP) is an initiative of the Doctors Community Hospital in Prince George County, Maryland. The program began as a center offering free breast cancer education and screening to low-income women (age 40 or older) residing in Prince George County. However, with rising cases of cervical cancer across the state, the BCCSP decided to expand its scope to cover cervical cancer and to move beyond screening and education to offer subsidized treatment and support to patients. The BCCSP is funded by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The program proposes to implement a project titled "Empowering Societies to be Free of Cervical Cancer" between January 2024 and December 2025. The program's clinical team comprises seven directors of medicine (MD), two certified registered nurse practitioners (CRNP), and one physician assistant (PA). On the support side, the program has a nurse navigator, a chaplain, a team of oncology social workers, a medical acupuncturist, an occupational therapist, a licensed dietician, and a financial counselor.
Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Cervical Cancer
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 focuses on promoting healthy lives and well-being for people of all ages as a channel for sustainable development (United Nations, 2023). Target 7 of SDG 3 is to ensure that reproductive healthcare services, including education and information, are universally accessible, and that reproductive health is integrated into national programs and strategies by the end of 2030 (United Nations, 2023). Ultimately, this will reduce cases of premature mortality resulting from non-communicable diseases globally (United Nations, 2023).
Cervical cancer affects reproductive health in thousands of women, particularly in cases where practitioners recommend surgery to remove a woman's womb (radical hysterectomy). Even in cases where surgery is not necessary, studies have shown that 46 percent of cervical cancer survivors are unable to conceive despite receiving reproductive counseling, due to damage to the reproductive organs resulting from radiotherapy (Shah et al., 2019).
Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 604,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 342,000 deaths were reported globally in 2020 alone, making it the fourth most common cancer among women (WHO, 2022). In the United States, an estimated 295,000 women had cervical cancer in 2019, and 5,000 women die from cervical cancer every year (National Cancer Institute, 2022). The National Cancer Institute indicates that new cases are diagnosed at a rate of 7.8 per 100,000 women annually (National Cancer Institute, 2022). While cervical cancer is less common than other cancers such as breast cancer, the BCCSP chooses to focus its efforts on it because it is not only treatable but more preventable due to the availability of vaccines.
Cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread through sexual activity (WHO, 2022). It is estimated that all sexually active women are exposed to HPV, although one can reduce the chances of developing cervical cancer through vaccination (WHO, 2022). African-American women disproportionately bear a higher burden of cervical cancer in the United States and are less likely to be vaccinated (National Cancer Institute, 2022). For this reason, the proposed project targets African-American women residing in Prince George County. It adopts a comprehensive approach that incorporates preventive, curative, and palliative strategies to improve quality of life, reduce incidence, and minimize deaths resulting from cervical cancer.
On the preventive front, the program will offer free screening to uninsured women, sensitize communities on the importance of screening and vaccination, organize telehealth and in-person campaigns to educate communities on the benefits of vaccination and where to get vaccines, and increase access to thermal ablation for cervical pre-cancer treatment. Curative strategies will include offering free radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy for invasive cervical cancer cases. Palliative strategies will include free counseling and fertility treatment for survivors wishing to get pregnant, free financial counseling services, and subsidized genetic counseling for at-risk family members. Financial counseling is geared toward helping patients manage their expenses and make decisions that enhance their financial health. Genetic counseling focuses on helping family members with a family history of cancer understand the risks they face and strategies for managing or lowering their risk.
Logical Model
Overarching Goal: To create a world free of cervical cancer.
Inputs: Grants, community leaders, licenses, staff (human resources), radiation equipment, financial counselors, oncology social workers, the University's Marlene and Stewart Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Prince George County Health Centre.
Activities:
Organize quarterly medical camps where women can access free HPV screening and Pap smear tests. Offer non-coercive rewards such as coupons to encourage women to undergo screening as a means of addressing cultural practices and beliefs that discourage it. Conduct monthly sensitization campaigns to educate women on cervical cancer and the importance of regular screening and vaccination. Develop telehealth mobile applications through which women can obtain virtual advice from oncologists and social workers on when and where to get free screening tests. Partner with the University's Cancer Center, where women with special conditions such as epilepsy can be referred for subsidized pre-cancer treatment through thermal ablation. Offer free radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy for invasive cervical cancer cases. Partner with fertility clinics from which cervical cancer survivors wishing to get pregnant can access free reproductive counseling. Offer free financial and genetic counseling to program participants and their family members.
Short-Term Outcomes: Uninsured women benefit from free HPV screening and Pap smear tests. Women become more knowledgeable about cervical cancer and where to get free tests and vaccines. Women with special conditions gain access to less invasive therapies. Uninsured women gain access to quality cervical cancer treatment. Women gain access to reproductive counseling that would otherwise be unaffordable. Women from low-income backgrounds and their families gain access to free genetic and financial counseling.
Medium-Term Outcomes: Increased rates of regular HPV screening among uninsured African-American women. Improved attitudes toward vaccination and screening. Increased access to less invasive pre-cancer treatments for women with special health conditions. Uninsured women living with cervical cancer lead satisfying lives. Over 50% of cervical cancer survivors are able to become pregnant after undergoing counseling. Women make informed financial decisions and families understand how to minimize their risk of cervical cancer.
Long-Term Outcomes (Impact): Increase in HPV infections detected and treated early before developing into cancer. Increase in the number of women presenting their children for HPV vaccination. Reduced deaths related to cervical cancer among women with special health conditions. Improved reproductive health for cervical cancer survivors. Cancer patients and their families lead financially stable lives with a low risk of getting cervical cancer.
Assumptions: The program will acquire the funding it needs to implement its activities. The target group will embrace the program and its interventions. The partners engaged in the program will carry out its mission with enthusiasm.
External Factors: The effect of government politics on the operations and management of the program; cultural and religious beliefs that could limit communities' willingness to undergo screening.
Conclusion
Cancer continues to be a major source of death globally. This project focuses on cervical cancer, the fourth most common form of cancer among women. According to the World Health Organization, 604,000 new cases of cervical cancer and 342,000 deaths were reported globally in 2020 alone. In the United States, an estimated 295,000 women had cervical cancer in 2019, and approximately 5,000 women die from the disease every year. Fortunately, cervical cancer is preventable, and women can reduce their chances of developing it through vaccination. At the same time, like other cancers, cervical cancer is largely treatable if detected early. Rates of vaccination and regular screening among women from minority groups remain low, calling for the concerted efforts of government officials, local communities, health workers, and non-governmental organizations to sensitize more women on the importance of regular screening and the benefits of vaccination.
The proposed project pursues the overarching goal of creating a world free of cervical cancer. Its long-term outcome is to reduce deaths resulting from cervical cancer in Prince George County, Maryland. The medium-term outcome includes increased access to screening and testing, improved attitudes toward screening and vaccination, increased access to free cervical cancer treatment, and improved financial management for patients and their families — all contributing to an improved quality of life. In the short term, the project seeks to ensure that more women can access free screening, treatment, and support in the form of financial and genetic counseling for family members. Through its efforts, the project will help promote good health and well-being for women in low-income neighborhoods, in line with SDG 3.
References
National Cancer Institute (2022). Cancer stat facts: Cervical cancer. National Cancer Institute. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/cervix.html
Obinkule, A. F., & Oshifogun, B. (2022). Perspectives of African-American women about barriers to breast cancer prevention and screening practices: A qualitative study. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 26(7), 22–28.
Shah, J. S., Jooya, N. D., Woodard, T. L., Ramirez, P. T., Fleming, N. D., & Frumovitz, M. (2019). Reproductive counseling and pregnancy outcomes after radical trachelectomy for early stage cervical cancer. Journal of Gynecologic Oncology, 30(3), 1–10.
United Nations (2023). Sustainable development goals: Goal 3 — Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/health/
World Health Organization (2022). Cervical cancer. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cervical-cancer
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