DOH-7 celebrates Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

TWELVE out of 1,000 women in the country died of cervical cancer every day, said Dr. Catherine Timbal, medical officer of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).

“Cervical cancer is considered as the second cause of death of women in the country, next to breast cancer,” Timbal said.

Free vaccination

For the mo nth of May, the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) will be celebrating the Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, wherein the department will be offering various programs such as cervical cancer screening and free vaccination to girls between aged nine to 13 years old.

Free pap smear

The VSMMC will also offer free pap smear procedure in the whole month of May, in coordination with the Eduardo J. Aboitiz Cancer Center.

Timbal urged the women to take advantage of this opportunity, especially that the procedure in private hospitals costs around P800 to P1,000.

The hospital will also conduct a seminar daily to educate the women about the risk of cervical cancer.

“Cervical cancer is a viral infection that can be acquired through sexual contact, especially to those who engage in sex and get pregnant at an early age and those with multiple partners,” she added.

Timbal said cervical cancer affects mainly women ages 30-50 years old before, but now there are also some cases wherein women ages 19 to 22 also get affected by the disease.

Dr. Jessa Alemania, medical officer of VSMMC, said that cervical cancer doesn’t show symptoms at its early stage and only develops after ten to 20 years.

“That is why it’s important for women who engaged in sex to have a regular check-up and cervical cancer screening because symptoms of this disease only comes out during its advanced stage,” Alemania said.

The symptoms of cervical cancer in the advanced stage are weight loss, anorexia, back pain and obstruction. There could also be abnormal vaginal bleeding that sometimes occurs after intercourse and foul smelling vaginal discharges.

She added that the DOH-7 is also conducting trainings to midwives from the different city and municipal health offices in the region on visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) procedure, which is another way to detect human papillomavirus (HPV), which develops into cervical cancer.

“Those who will be diagnosed positive with HPV virus will undergo our treatment program. But if they were diagnosed with cervical cancer on its advanced stage, then they have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation,” she added.

Based on their records, a 22-year-old woman is the hospital’s youngest patient who was diagnosed of cervical cancer for this year.

On May 5, the DOH-7 will conduct a scarlet walk from the San Pedro Calungsod chapel to SM Seaside City Cebu at the South Road Properties.

They also encourage participants to wear red t-shirt during the event.

Free cervical cancer screening

On May 20, the department will also hold a free cervical cancer screening at Consolacion National High School where more than a thousand patients are expected to participate. / with a report from CNU Intern Alexandra Mae Bustamante