Courtesy of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon
Dr. Doyin Oluwole experienced the miracle of life as a young girl in Nigeria. Her mother was trained as a midwife by an American missionary and worked at a private facility behind her home, where she took care of children and delivered babies in a small clinic.
Oluwole would often allow her daughter to stay in the room with her and see the babies being delivered.
“That grew my interest in medicine,” Oluwole said. “To see a woman in labor screaming, and to see that little life pop out. The joy of seeing that woman deliver the job.”
Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon works in conjunction with PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) to screen women for cervical cancer, because women who have HIV are four to five times more likely to contract cervical cancer.
The Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative was created in September of 2011, joining PEPFAR, the George W. Bush Institute, the U.S. Department of State, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Its mission is to use government and private money to combat cervical and breast cancer, which are two of the leading causes of cancer death in women, in developing nations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.
“I was never initially focused on cervical and breast cancer but I am now. And I see that it is a good thing to do because HIV positive women are now surviving from HIV infection,” Oluwole said.
Oluwole became executive director of Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon on February 14, 2012. Oluwole works with the PRRR partners and manages staff members to ensure efficiency and coordination.
Oluwole’s main goals with the organization include expanding the availability of cervical cancer screening and treatment, particularly for high-risk HIV-positive women, as well as promoting breast cancer education.
Long term, the organization hopes to reduce deaths from cervical cancer by an estimated 25% among women screened and treated through the initiative, to increase access to breast and cervical cancer prevention, screening and treatment, and to create innovative models that can be scaled up and used globally.
Next up for Oluwole: She is planning a global cancer summit in Africa this summer with President Bush and the former first lady to advance the goals and efforts of the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative.
With four grown children pursuing degrees and careers in various states across the country, Oluwole continues to focus her efforts on the children who need her the most.