According to the National Cancer Institute (INCA), the Brazilian Amazon has 3 times more cases than the country’s average (up to 46 cases/100,000 women), due to the lack of information and infrastructure deficiencies. It prompted the State Department of Health to take actions that slightly reduced the statistics in recent years, but all effort hasn’t been enough. Then Hermes Pardini group joined the local government and accepted the challenge: let’s make clear to this low female literacy about the importance of cervical cancer annual preventive exams.

The idea is simple: to remind Amazonian women to have their annual gynecological exams and prevent cervical cancer, we are giving them a flower that opens only once a year. And every time it does, they will know that it’s time to schedule the annual Pap Test.

In partnership with the Secretary of Health, we identified the poorest communities living around the river to reach women who do not have access to information and consequently do not take the pap test. Our strategy is fully based in local culture elements to remind these women about the importance of screening. Since people in this area rely on plants for sustenance and medicine, we'll decide to use one as a calendar. Moreover, 3000 health department agents were in charge of different tasks such as: giving classes for community leaders, helping women go to the local clinic to take the test and promote local events with the families to aware about exams.

The Flower of Life was selected among Cattleya species, a type of orchid that's very common in the Amazon region. We asked a bothanical specialist to register this specific flower at the Royal Horticultural Society. Then it was distributed by the health department agents that went deep into the jungle through riverboats to teach each woman to visit a regional clinic for a test, every time the flower of life opens itself. During this time we also promoted a lecture with specialists to explain to those women how to take care of this flower. The whole process was beyond the flower delivery, the Secretary Health Department promoted many local events with community leaders to spread the awareness about the gynecological exam. Furthermore, the health department agents also teach those women how to come to the local clinic to take the pap test.