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Despite cervical cancer being the most preventable form of cancer, it is afflicting more South African women than any other kind.<\/section>\n
\"Reportedly <\/a><\/figure>\n

One in 30 women in sub-Saharan Africa will develop cervical cancer, despite it being the most preventable form of female cancer in the world, according to World Health Organization statistics.<\/p>\n

Cervical cancer, which the Medical Research Council says is the most common cancer among South African women, is caused by the sexually-transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very concerned about sexually active women [in South Africa] who are breadwinners for their families. It is so tragic to see women like this suffering and dying from a disease that is entirely preventable,\u201d says Bridgette Goeieman, the cervical cancer program manager of the health organization, Right to Care, which is based at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

According to Goeieman, up to 80% of women infected with HPV don\u2019t develop cancer with their \u201cimmune systems clearing it out naturally\u201d. \u201cBut 20% will have persistent infection, which can lead to a lesion which\u00a0will result in cancer if there\u2019s no intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cervical cancer can be prevented through regular pap smears, which can identify pre-cancer lesions in the cervix which can then be treated before they develop to cancer. \u201cBut South Africa\u2019s cervical cancer prevention strategies in the public health sector are not well implemented and patients are badly informed about them. As a result, patients don\u2019t access pap smears in time,\u201d says Goeieman.<\/p>\n

In line with World Health Organization guidelines, state health facilities in South Africa offer sexually-active women of 30 years and older, with compromised immune systems, one pap smear every 10 years. \u201cCervical cancer progresses slowly \u2013 it takes about ten years from HPV infection to cancer \u2013 which is what the guidelines are based on,\u201d says Goeieman.<\/p>\n

In HIV-positive women, however, it develops \u201cmuch more aggressively and in only two to five years\u201d.\u00a0 Pap smears are therefore offered more regularly to such women, depending on their treatment results.<\/p>\n

But Goeieman says nurses at understaffed primary healthcare clinics are overwhelmed, which often leads to such facilities dedicating only one day per week to pap smears. \u201cSo if a woman comes to a clinic for her hypertensive treatment on say, a Tuesday, they\u2019ll tell her we only do pap smears on Thursdays. Obviously, that woman, who took a day off work, is not going to come back,\u201d she says. \u201cNurses also complain that the procedure is time-consuming [15 minutes] compared to other procedures and they don\u2019t have sterilizing equipment or dedicated rooms to perform pap smears in.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the private sector, where pap smears are easily accessible to women who can afford them, the turnaround time for results are about three days, whereas it can take up to six weeks in the public health sector.<\/p>\n

In February last year, the health department introduced an HPV vaccine free of charge to all nine- and ten-year-old school girls. The vaccine is 90% effective against the two most common cancer-causing HPV strains in women who have not yet contracted the virus.\u00a0\u201cBut the impact of the vaccines will only be felt in about 10 to 15 years from now, when those girls have become adults who hadn\u2019t developed cervical cancer as a result of the vaccine,\u201d Goeieman says.<\/p>\n

15.09.2015 M&G by Mia Malan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite cervical cancer being the most preventable form of cancer, it is afflicting more South African women than any other kind. One in 30 women in sub-Saharan Africa will develop cervical cancer, despite it being the most preventable form of…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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