ANNUAL STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR
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The Year in Review - 2025​​
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As we end another year, it’s important to reflect on our accomplishments, acknowledge the challenges that we faced, and express gratitude to those who contributed to our journey. To that end, this is the Year in Review.
As a results-oriented organization, Project HANDS’ mandate is to do the greatest good by helping as many people as we can. That is the goal and the ideal.
This year we funded medical attention for more than 22,000 patients, screened 1,544 women for cervical cancer, and provided support for three medical interns. These statistics reflect tangible achievements, but behind each statistic is a story of courage, compassion, and connection. While data define our impact, it is humanity at its very best that defines our success.
Pivoting with Purpose: Facilitating Access to Healthcare in Myanmar
The Physician Incentive Program was launched in 2020 to facilitate healthcare in Myanmar’s most remote communities, where no other healthcare exists. The program marked a pivotal shift from short-term intervention to sustainable, community-driven impact. That inaugural year there were two participants, and approximately 4,600 patients were treated. Events that followed were unforeseeable and devastating. The covid pandemic began then dragged on, and civil war escalated in response to a military coup. True to form, we reacted quickly, allocating additional resources to meet critical and mounting needs. The outreach grew exponentially each year, and in 2025, five program participants treated more than 22,000 patients in the most marginalized, war-torn regions of the country. Their ingenuity and resilience in the face of unfathomable hardship never cease to amaze and inspire.
Women’s Health Initiative in Ghana and Liberia
When world events, funding cuts and a volatile economic outlook abruptly halted the Women’s Health Initiative in Burmese refugee camps, we didn’t miss a beat. We sprang into action, listening, learning, and working in real time to identify alternate locations in need of cervical cancer screening. The search led us to Akwatia, Ghana, where cervical cancer is the second leading cause of female cancer deaths. Our collaborators, Dr. Mary Amoakoh-Coleman of Medical Women Association of Ghana and Dr. Maite Alfonso of Saint Dominic Catholic Hospital, supported our team in countless ways, to ensure that our efforts had the greatest impact. During that outreach we trained seven nurses and midwives on screening and treatment protocols, screened 919 women, and administered 25 potentially life-saving thermal ablation treatments.
Building on that success in Africa, we set our sights on Liberia, where cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. When Joyce Kilikpo, Executive Director of Public Health Initiative Liberia (PHIL), invited us to partner on cervical cancer screening and capacity building, her personal experience deeply moved us. She had watched her aunt suffer, and ultimately lose her battle with cervical cancer. The loss was made even more painful by the fact that it could have been prevented. Her story was a stark reminder of how often a simple test stands between prevention and a virtual death sentence. Moreover, it affirmed our belief that she would be a powerful advocate for WHI, helping to bring hope to other vulnerable women. We joined forces with PHIL and the Ministry of Health to train Liberian healthcare providers, screen 625 women, and treat 25 for pre-cancer dysplasia.
Investing in the Future: Medical Internships in Myanmar
Even as we meet the pressing needs of today, we constantly look toward the future. We strive to create sustainable opportunities for aspiring medical professionals to chart their own course, and help them to overcome barriers that stand in their way. When it came to our attention that medical students in Myanmar were forced to postpone their studies due to the pandemic and the coup, it was a call to action. Medical Internship Assistance was awarded to three exceptional candidates who demonstrated outstanding moral character, financial need, superior academic achievement, and a commitment to work in underserved communities. To say the very least, their stories are compelling and their challenges boggle the imagination. They pursue their studies in jungle hideouts, provide medical attention in war zones, and make do with meager equipment, supplies and resources. But they will not be deterred.
One recipient told us, “Although there is the risk of airstrikes, I am very happy to be accepted as an intern. It is my dream.” Another said, “I am more eager than ever to become a physician. I read books, learn clinical theory online, and volunteer in charity clinics. I will work hard during this internship, to become an excellent and passionate physician. I will never give up.” The third simply vowed, “I solemnly pledge to dedicate my life to the service of humanity.” And we know that she will.
The Power of Partnership
None of this would be possible without our board, volunteers, program participants, global partners and supporters. In a world too often divided, they come together from Canada, United States, Switzerland, Germany, India, Ghana, Liberia, Thailand and South Korea, bound by a common passion and a shared vision: to provide healthcare to those who would otherwise be forgotten and left behind.
We ask a lot of them, and time and again they rise to meet the moment, demonstrating that there is no challenge too great, no place too remote, no working conditions too taxing. They never say no. They always show up. They extend a hand. And they make a difference.
That is truly humanity at its very best, and therein lies the key to our success.
Join Us
Marginalized communities are relying on us, now more than ever. Please visit www.projecthands.org to learn more, connect with our work, and explore how you can contribute. Whether you are a donor, medical provider, nonprofit professional or volunteer, we invite you to join us in this important work.
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