The Caribbean
The Caribbean Gynecologic Cancer Society (CGCS) has joined the IGCS Strategic Alliance Partner bringing 43 Caribbean members to our international community. Dr. Raleigh Butler, the Program Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship at the University of the West Indies Bahamas led the charge in securing this partnership. CGCS was founded in 2015 and is made up of physicians specializing in gynecologic oncology from the University of the West Indies (UWI) campuses of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Bahamas.
With different cultures, governments, political histories and populations, the standards of medical facilities can vary from island to island. Recent research revealed that the Bahamas has the highest occurrence of BRCA-positivity in the world. Cervical cancer incidence is 22.1 per 100,000 in the UWI campus countries combined.
Acknowledging that the region had a wealth of talented individuals who had trained at home and overseas, the UWI campuses initiated a collaborative approach to fighting gynecological malignancies across the region. The IGCS Global Curriculum and Mentorship Program has been implemented at the UWI campuses in Jamaica and the Bahamas.
Now through the Strategic Alliance, we look forward to working with CGCS on additional collaborative initiatives for the benefit of women’s cancer control in the Caribbean.