National screening programme for cervical cancer necessary

Saturday, July 31, 2010 (The Mirror Pg 17)

By Rebecca Kwei
Cervical cancer is one of the commonest cancers in women in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana.
According to experts, every two minutes a woman somewhere in the world dies from cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is cancer that forms in tissues of the cervix (the organ connecting the uterus and the vagina). It is usually a slow-growing cancer and may not have symptoms in the early stages but can be found with a pap test. It is almost always caused by a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV). You can get HPV by having sexual contact with someone who has it.
Early symptoms of cervical cancer may include bleeding from the vagina that is not normal, a change in your menstrual cycle that you cannot explain, pain during sex and vaginal discharge tinged with blood.
The statistics available on cervical cancer are quite staggering. In 2008, cervical cancer accounted for 275,000 deaths world-wide, with 88 per cent occurring in less developed countries.
By 2030, it is predicted that cervical cancer mortality will increase by 77 per cent in less developed countries and by 57 per cent world-wide, bringing the global burden to 433,000 deaths.
Other statistics estimate that 79,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Africa every year and 61,000 (78 per cent) of women die of the disease in Africa.
However, the many deaths from cervical cancer can be avoided.
In developed countries, cervical cancer is a rarity, not because women are not exposed to the risk factors but the incidence has reduced considerably because of well-structured national screening programmes to detect pre-cancerous lesions and early stages of the cancers.
Sadly, well-structured national screening programmes for cervical cancer and breast cancer are not available in most African countries, which is further worsening the burden of the disease.
At the 4th Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa Conference held in Accra, the first ladies of Ghana, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills; South Africa, Madam Tobeka Madiba-Zuma; Niger, Mrs T. Salou, and Swaziland, Queen Nomsa LaMatsebula, minced no words in calling for an effective national screening programme for both cervical and breast cancer in African countries.
They noted that most cervical cases could be prevented and for those who developed the disease, if it was detected early through screening tests, it could be cured.
For Mrs Mills, cervical and breast cancer screening could be integrated into women’s health programmes so that when and where available, any woman who went for breast cancer screening could also be screened for cervical cancer at the same time, and vice versa.
“In a few countries where screening tests are available, this approach is practised so that any woman who attends a clinic for ante-natal and post-natal care and family planning, for example, or any other encounter with the health service is offered the opportunity to get screened,” she said.
Mrs Mills also called for more awareness of cervical cancer and also the need to come up with culturally sensitive messages that would lead to behavioural change, since there were a lot of misconceptions about the disease in Africa.
Currently, primary prevention of cervical cancer can be achieved through vaccination and Mrs Mills further called for support to mobilise resources for the establishment of a functional cervical cancer vaccination programme across the continent.
“Problems of cervical cancer are major tragedies. We must all help to save the lives of our women,” she added.