The RAM Guyana Women's Health Team was formed in November 2003, to follow-up on abnormal PAP smears performed on Amerindian women in the tribal villages of the interior. Its mission was to provide cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for Amerindian women until the Ministry of Health could formalize its national program of cervical cancer screening and begin to implement it in the villages of the interior. In addition, the team carried out a formal epidemiologic study to establish the baseline rate of cervical cancer among this population. An initial paper was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Appendix C, and a final paper is being prepared at this time. As a result of several years of hard work, cooperation from the Ministry of Health and villages, and the ability of the Ministry of Health to oversee the next phase of this project, the RAM Women's Health Team is pleased to announce that the primary goals of the Guyana Cervical Cancer Project have been accomplished.

As local sustainability is the hallmark of a successful program, the RAM team is now ready to discontinue screening and transfer the care of the patients to Guyana's Ministry of Health. While we anticipate that the program will be implemented throughout the country by Guyana's program directors, Minister Ramsammy has been assured by RAM Team Leaders that the RAM Team will return to Guyana if requested to assist in implementing the Ministry's program in Regions 7, 8, and 9.