SOCIETY for Family Health (SFH) observes that cases of cervical cancer are prevalent in Nigeria, killing more than 9, 659 women annually.
It notes that many women across the world are inflicted with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) — the major cause of cancer of the cervix.
The society says in spite of this statistics, there is evidence that utilisation of screening for prevention of the disease is poor in Nigeria.
Citing a report on the ante-natal clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, between 2005 and 2007, the society says only 3,038 women are recorded to have undergone screening for cervix cancer.
Concerned about this development and the rate of the prevalence of the disease, medical experts have called on women of reproductive age to observe regular cervical cancer screening.
They insist that early detection through screening and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions remain the best possible protection against cancer of the cervix.
This notwithstanding, the National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) has developed the National Cervical Cancer Control Policy to fight the disease.
The programme provides guidelines for private sector involvement in the cervical cancer control to guarantee effectiveness.
In the light of this, SFH, Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria and Marie Stopes Nigeria (MSN) subscribed to the programme and inaugurated a four-year cervical cancer screening and preventive therapy (CCS&PT) from 2012 to 2016.
Medical experts observe that the programme is to provide cervical cancer screening and cryotherapy to women who have pre-cancerous cervical lesions across the country.
They also observe that there are provisions for women with the advanced lesions to be referred to government facilities where they can access higher treatment.
According to the programme, the therapy is for women from 30 to 49 years of age, in some selected states including Abuja, Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan, Owerri and Makurdi, among others.
SFH says the programme is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through Marie Stopes International (MSI) as the principal recipient in Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
Mr. Bright Ekweremadu, the SFH Managing Director, said “this is an important project for the society.
“ The essence is for these clinics to standout among others so that our women and children will have quality health care, especially in the area of cervical cancer.
“Cervical cancer obviously is an ailment of women and because we deal mostly with women and children, the project falls within the network.’’
Ekweremadu explained that the society had 60 facilities where cervical cancer screening was ongoing.
He also said that 15,000 women had benefited from the screening, observing that 20 of the women that did the test were positive to cervical cancer.
Realising this, he said that SFH had trained inter-personal mobilisation agents who went from house to house to educate the people about cervical cancer screening and encourage them to come to the centres for screening
According to him, this is to ensure that Nigerian women are screened on regular basis for early detection of cervical cancer and effective management.
He expressed shock that in spite of the affordable cost of the equipment used for cervical cancer screening, some primary health care centres did not have it.
Ekweremadu stressed the need for every primary healthcare centres in the country to have the equipment.
He advised health care providers to make such equipment available in their clinics for better services.
“ I was shocked to understand that some clinics in Nigeria do not have the cryotherapy equipment which is N396, 000; any doctor who has a clinic should be able to afford one.
“ It requires just a simple process to operate, you do not need to be a professor to be able to do the screening and even the treatment,’’ Ekweremadu said.
He, therefore, called on National Medical Association to organise trainings for its members on the use of the cryotherapy equipment for the treatment of cervical cancer lesion.
Also calling for trainings among health workers, Dr Peter Entonu, Senior Manager Cervical Cancer Screening Project in SFH, said that less than five per cent of Nigerian women had access to cervical cancer screening services.
He emphasised that cervical cancer could be effectively treated if it was detected in time, noting that any woman that could be screened would be treated.
He said that every sexually active woman could be at risk of contracting HPV, one of the infections that caused cervical cancer.
According to him, HPV is transmitted through sexual intercourse and can stay for 10 years before manifesting.
All in all, medical experts advise that a woman could reduce the risk of cervical cancer by delaying age of first sexual experience, avoid multiple sexual partners, smoking and use of tobacco.(NAN)