Grounds for Health: Using Vinegar to Save Women

by Shyla Nambiar

Published 1/13/2014; © 2014 Shyla Nambiar

Cervical cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer among women in the world. While women in affluent nations are encouraged to have routine Pap smears, they are often too expensive for women in developing countries. Now, a nonprofit organization, supported by the coffee industry and appropriately named Grounds for Health (GFH), advocates an ingenious, lower-cost but effective alternative for early detection and treatment, using humble vinegar and cotton swabs.

More than 80% of the global burden of cervical cancer is found in developing nations. While this type of cancer is preventable, screening, detection, and treatment opportunities are not always available. Cervical cancer kills more women than any other form of cancer, and deaths can have far-reaching effects, as women are needed to work and take care of families. Thus, in addition to the personal loss, families and communities suffer.

Dan Cox, Co-Founder of Grounds for Health

Grounds for Health, founded in 1996, aims to change these grim circumstances. The organization was created by Daniel Cox, president of Coffee Enterprises, a coffee-testing company in Burlington, Vermont, and Dr. Francis Fote, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist. Fote accompanied Cox on a trip to Potchua, Mexico to buy coffee for Ben and Jerry’s. There they met a local doctor, Jose Valenzuela, who was concerned with the high incidence of cervical cancer in his area. Cox and Fote approached a company in California about donating diagnostic equipment, and Dr. Valenzuela was trained to operate it. For the first 4 or 5 years, they relied on the Pap smear for cancer detection. However, this method was expensive and labor-intensive, so they switched to visual inspection with acetic acid, or VIA, method.

VIA was developed by Jhpiego, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. By using vinegar to swab the cervix, lesions or polyps can be detected as they turn white. If they are smaller than a certain diameter, they can be treated with cryotherapy and frozen immediately. In a few days, the frozen tissue is sloughed off and expelled by the body. The VIA method is performed only on women between 30 and 50 years of age, and has a  90 to 95% success rate.