A Scots nurse-turned-missionary is fighting to cut cancer deaths in a country with only one specialist hospital for 17million people.
Ida Waddell is campaigning to open screening and care services in four hospitals and six clinics in rural areas of impoverished Zambia.
The trained theatre nurse, 64, who was raised in Port Glasgow and Fife, swapped life in Scotland for southern Africa 12 years ago to tackle the problem.
She said very few people suffering from cervical, prostate and breast cancer are able to access treatment.
An estimated 3000 new cases of cervical cancer are reported each year and 71 per cent of women die despite it being a treatable disease.
Ida, who has been compared to Victorian era Dundee missionary Mary Slessor – now is featured on the Clydesdale £10 note – helps run the Mwandi Mission Hospital.
She has called on the UK and Scottish governments and other UK charities to dig deep and help out.
Ida said: “Zambia has only one specialist cancer hospital, which is in the capital Lusaka, and there is a six-month waiting list before you can access treatment.
“Mwandi is 10 hours’ drive away from Lusaka, which means it is very difficult for patients to access treatment.” Ida and her husband Keith have been the Church of Scotland’s Mission Partners in Zambia since 2008.
A cervical and breast cancer programme has been successfully piloted at Mwandi Mission Hospital – made possible by a £40,000 donation from the Hope Park and Martyrs Church in St Andrews.
But only 2.4 per cent of people diagnosed get hospital treatment.
Ida added: “Culturally, it is taboo for a woman to ask her son for money to travel because of cervical cancer. Many women remain silent and live with the disease.
“Some husbands refuse to allow their wives to be screened as they are afraid they will be sterilised and no longer be able to have children.
“Often it is only when a woman presents with a problem at Mwandi that she is then referred to a gynaecologist at hospital in Livingstone, which is three hours’ drive away along a potholed road.
“But only seven per cent of those referred access the next stage of treatment, which is why we must start doing more for them where they are.”
Muriel Gray, mission convener of Hope Park and Martyrs Church, said the pair are “truly inspirational”.
Teacher Keith, 64, added: “Our life and work is a calling and in the Lord’s work you never retire.”
