If you are a woman or a mother of a daughter – then read this article below, it will help you a lot.
January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and is second only to breast cancer among women’s cancers because cervical cancer is the second most common cause of death in women after breast cancer.
That is why it is necessary to know about cervical cancer.
In a large country like ours (India), state-wise whatever data on cervix cancer is available ,indicates the cause being differences in diet, lifestyle, education etc, the number of cervical cancer cases (annually) varies from state to state, but on an average, cervical cancer accounts for about 29% of woman cancer cases alone.
According to the data of 2020 in India, Bangladesh and Nepal together, about 1 lakh 35 thousand women were newly diagnosed with cervical cancer that year and among them about 84 thousand women died. This figure is estimated to be 1 lakh 72 thousand new cases and 1 Lakh 10 thousand deaths per year in 2030.
But the death rate of this huge number can be significantly reduced with a little awareness.
The cervix is the junction of the uterus and vagina. To give an example, if the whole system is like a water bottle, then the lid of the bottle is the vagina, the neck of the bottle is the cervix and the main body of the bottle is the uterus. When the behaviour of these cells in the cervix changes, it can slowly turn into cancer.
One of the main causes of cervical cancer is infection by a virus. The name of the virus is human papilloma virus. There are about 100 different types but only two types are presumed to be responsible for this cancer. HPV is transmitted through sexual intercourse. When a girl or woman starts her sexual life, at times she becomes infected with HPV virus through her male partner. However, even if someone is HPV positive that doesn’t mean they have cancer, because as I said, there are about 100 types of this virus and of which 2 forms are the most worrying. After 2008 the vaccine came out to fight this virus and as a result now the fight against this cervical cancer has become very easy but only due to lack of awareness today, 90% women of our country have not brought themselves under the protection of this vaccine.
The right time to give this vaccine is between 9 and 15 years when a girl is a virgin. At this time, the vaccine has only 2 doses. And if the girl goes under protection during this time, even if she starts having sex, there is no chance of getting this cancer again. However, between 15 to 30 years of age (before starting sexual intercourse) this vaccine is usually given in 3 doses.
However, the vaccine may not work as well once the age limit of 30 has passed and sexual activity has begun, but it is still approved up to the age of 45. In this case, doctors usually recommend pelvic region screening for women every 3 to 5 years. Because cervical cancer does not progress very quickly and there is a pre-cancerous phase before reaching cancer.
So screening every 3 years is more likely to catch it before it reaches the cancerous stage and start treatment at that time to arrest the disease before it becomes cancerous.
To eradicate cervical cancer forever…..
At least 90% of girls should be vaccinated before age 15.
At least 70% of women should be screened regularly.
At least 99% of women who suffer from various infections of the cervix should be treated as soon as possible. Why is the wave late? Contact your gynaecologist as soon as possible and get yourself or your loved one vaccinated against deadly diseases like cervical cancer and get screened every 3 to 5 years (pap smear test / VIA test / colposcopy) and protect yourself too.
If you want to know more , please connect Indian Cancer Treatment to guide you.
©CFRB
