The war against cervical cancer

Editorial


As a result of the increasing cervical cancer deaths in the country, the Federal Ministry of Health has adopted a cost-effective test and a cervical cancer policy to checkmate the rampaging monster. To this end, the ministry also plans to incorporate the cervical cancer vaccine into the national immunization schedule as well as conduct six pilot studies in six states of the federation on two different cancer vaccines-Cervarix and Gardasil.
The ministry has entered into an agreement with the Global Alliance on Vaccine Initiative (GAVI) in order to reduce the cost of the vaccines. According to medical scientists, the new Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) or ‘see and treat’ approach, which uses a test that costs $2 (N300), would help doctors prevent 100,000 cervical cancer deaths a year in women in poorer countries. They believe that the VIA could provide the answer to cervical cancer deaths.
Already, research findings in some rural communities have confirmed that VIA significantly reduced cancer death rates. The only snag is that more awareness needs to be created so that more and more women will come up for screening.
According to scientists, the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) belongs to the papillomavirus family of viruses that infect humans. About 30 to 40 types of HPV are transmitted through sexual contact. They usually infect the anogenital region.
While some sexually transmitted HPV types may cause genital warts, it has been established that persistent infection with ‘high risk’ HPV types different from the ones that cause warts, may progress to precancerous lesions and invasive cancer.
Till date, HPV infection is said to be responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that about 300,000 women throughout the world die annually from cervical cancer. Unfortunately, about 85 percent of the deaths occur in developing countries.
Available statistics from the Health Ministry’s Cancer Control Unit show that over 30 million Nigerians are already afflicted by one form of cancer or the other. There are strong indications, too, that about 100,000 new cases would be identified, annually. And, there are even fears that if nothing urgent is done to contain the scourge, over 500,000 people might be affected by the disease, this year alone.
Health experts in Nigeria have identified three leading cancer killers in the country as those of the breast, cervix and prostate. Of all, cervical cancer has been found out to be the leading cause of cancer death among women in developing countries. In these countries, there are poor health service infrastructure and high costs of screening and vaccines.
We welcome and applaud the new initiative aimed at curtailing cervical cancer our country. Let the government provide the simple VIA test methodology in all government health facilities in both urban and rural areas. We also enjoin all the health departments of the three tiers of government to work in concert to ensure the success of this exercise. They should ensure that there are enough enlightenment campaigns in English and vernacular languages to ensure that every part of Nigeria benefits from this cervical cancer policy.
As more Nigerian women have been identified to be dying of the monstrous disease, we must do everything humanly possible to contain the ailment.
While we welcome the plan by the government to include cervical cancer vaccination in the national immunization schedule, and the proposed six pilot studies on cervical cancer vaccines in six states in Nigeria, we caution that their safety be ascertained and guaranteed before use.
Let the nation’s health authorities pursue this laudable initiative to its logical conclusion.

SOURCE