Biocon Ltd, Asia's premier biotechnology company, announced that Biocon Foundation has won the ‘Asia Best CSR Practices Award 2014’ hosted by CMO Asia at Singapore, as a part of World CSR Congress, in the ‘Best Community Initiative’ category for its ‘Community Cervical Cancer Screening Programme’.

S  Raman, vice president & head of Biocon Malaysia operations, received the award on behalf of Biocon Foundation at the 4th Asia Best CSR Practices Awards held in Singapore on August 1, 2014.

The Asia Best CSR Practices Awards recognize corporates in Asia that have had a significant and positive impact on people, communities and the environment.

Commenting on the award, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon, said, "This is a significant award as it endorses the very challenging work that we are doing through our Community Cervical Cancer Screening Program."

“Early detection of cervical cancer through Biocon Foundation's screening programme has led to early treatment at lower cost and greatly enhanced treatment outcomes in the rural communities we serve,” she added.

India has the highest number of deaths from cervical cancer than any other country. Cervical cancer kills over 72,000 women in India every year, more than 26 per cent of the 275,000 deaths worldwide.

The Biocon Foundation’s cervical cancer prevention and control programme is centered around three key service delivery components – community information and education, accessible screening services & diagnostics and treatment services.

Biocon Foundation trains healthcare workers to provide reproductive health education to women in underserved communities. The Foundation has also collaborated with tertiary cancer centres to link diagnostic, screening and treatment services. This programme is rolled out by the Arogya Raksha Yojana (ARY) clinics in Karnataka, operated by the Foundation.

The Foundation’s health workers identify women who seem to be at risk and preregister them for a screening camp. The women undergo comprehensive screening by specialists from the tertiary cancer centres who visit the ARY clinics once a month. The screening process is highly systematic, including a counseling session.

To maintain quality and provide focused attention, the center limits the number of screenings to around 20 patients a day, the doctor spends nearly 45 minutes per patient to give quality time and attention to the patient. So far, hundreds of women have been screened, leading to the detection of several cancer cases.

A doctor conducts a systematic pelvic examination and PAP smear. While other issues are treated at the clinic, PAP slides are sent to the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre (MSCC) or St. John’s Hospital in Bengaluru. If abnormalities (precancerous lesions) are found, patients are counselled to go in for follow-up diagnosis and treatment. Patients are also advised to repeat the PAP smear test every two years.