On August 29, 2024, Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital (SMAH) in Banepa, Nepal, was awarded the prestigious Gold Winner Award in the “Best in Community Involvement” category at the Hospital Management Asia Awards 2024. The award ceremony, which took place during the Hospital Management Asia 2024 convention at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center, recognized the hospital’s outstanding contribution to community healthcare.

This year’s competition featured 307 entries from 113 hospitals across 15 Asian countries, with 37 finalists selected across nine categories. SMAH, represented by Angela Basnet, vice president of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer, secured the gold award in the Best in Community Involvement category, standing out among strong competitors from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The award-winning initiative, the Comprehensive Women’s Health Project—SMAH Experience, was developed in response to Nepal’s critical women’s health challenges. According to the Safe Motherhood Network Federation, around 600,000 women were suffering from uterine prolapse as of 2005, while cervical cancer remains the leading cause of death among women in the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Although Nepal’s Supreme Court declared uterine prolapse a human rights issue in 2008, and the government pledged support for free surgeries, many women continue to struggle to access these services. Additionally, the cervical cancer incidence rate in Nepal is 16.4 per 100,000 women, which is significantly higher than the WHO’s target of 4 per 100,000, highlighting the urgent need for an effective national HPV vaccination program.

In response to these pressing issues, SMAH collaborated with the Women for Women Foundation (WFWF) from the Netherlands and the Community Services Academy of Nepal (COSAN) to launch the Comprehensive Women’s Health Project. The program centers on three key areas: mass screening for uterine prolapse and cervical cancer, training local healthcare workers for early detection, and providing free surgeries for pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

From January 2023 to June 2024, the program made remarkable progress. During this period, 12,800 women received care, and 8,550 underwent cervical cancer screening. Of those screened, 357 tested positive for Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA), and 1,920 cases of pelvic organ prolapse were diagnosed. Additionally, 270 surgeries were performed, and 42 auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) were trained to enhance early detection capabilities in the local community.

The Comprehensive Women’s Health Project aims to continue expanding its screening and intervention efforts, ensuring timely care and preventing complications in women’s health across the region.

Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital, founded by Adventist missionaries in 1960, has been serving the people of Nepal for the past 64 years. As a tertiary-level healthcare institution, SMAH remains dedicated to providing compassionate, patient-centered care of international standards to all patients, regardless of their financial status.

This international recognition highlights SMAH’s deep commitment to improving the health and well-being of women in Nepal and its ongoing mission to serve the community excellently.

The original article was published on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division website.