Cervical Cancer
Enhanced collaborative efforts between governments, civil society organisations, religious bodies, local and international health organizations is key towards eliminating the cervical cancer scourge among women.
This was the resolution during a convention in Nairobi on cervical cancer elimination and HPV vaccination that brought together a team of religious leaders, policy makers, health experts, CSO’s and cancer survivors drawn from Africa to strategize and come up with resolutions aimed towards a future where cervical cancer does not pose a threat to women.
The meeting aimed to equip participants with the knowledge and strategies needed to advocate for and implement effective cervical cancer control programs in their respective regions.
According to the World Health Organization 2022 report, an estimated 126,000 new cases are diagnosed every year, and 81,000 deaths annually with Africa ranked as one of the top continents globally with the highest rates of cervical cancer.
Fr. Charles Chilufya, Chair, Africa Health and Economic Transformation Initiative (AHETI) said the team is dedicated to supporting the implementation of a multifaceted approach in advocating for policy changes, raising awareness, offering psychosocial support and empowering communities in the prevention and control of cervical cancer in Africa towards achieving the WHO 90-70-90 targets.
Fr. Chilufya outlined WHO’s 90-70-90 elimination strategy which is a comprehensive approach that targets 90% of the girls to be vaccinated by age 15, 70% of the women screened by ages 34 and 45, and 90 % of women with the cervical disease receiving treatment.
Other key interventions he mentioned include supporting the implementation of behavior change communication, advocating for the HPV Vaccine and screening for the women, treatment, palliative care and survivorship.
Miriam Mumba, a cancer survivor from Zambia encouraging more women to go for cervical cancer screening early to arrest its adverse effects, when detected late.
Further, he said, there’s need to enhance access to treatment protocols, offering continuous training to health care professionals and policy makers to advocate for care policy in a bid to have Africa free of cervical cancer.
Miriam Mumba, a cancer survivor from Zambia stated that women who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer face many challenges for instance inability to access treatment due to the vast distance to the health facilities and lack of resources to support the treatment plan.
“The cervical cancer treatment regime is quite expensive, few women have the financial capability to go through all the treatment stages, from diagnosis, testing and treatment,” she explained.
Mumba called upon families, the media, the community and the church to be at the forefront in supporting the women who are already affected, offer psychosocial support and also navigate around the community to reach out to the women who have not sought for treatment.
“As a survivor, I’m speaking up for the woman who is sitting at home not knowing that she has cancer, and the one who knows that she is sick but fears to go for treatment for fear of what the community will say,” stated Mumba.
Mumba urged the media to highlight the challenges the affected women are going through, the inequities that are in the distribution that are in the accessing in the lifesaving interventions. Besides, they should also highlight the positive stories on the survivors to give hope to those still undergoing treatment.
Brenda Kithaka, the Executive Director Kilele Health Association called out the media to enhance awareness creation by providing evidence-based information to debunk the myths associated with the disease to help reduce the stigma associated with it.
“The media should not wait for the cervical cancer awareness month to highlight stories about it, but rather keep reporting often to encourage more women to present themselves early for screening, so that if they turn positive, they start the treatment regime early before it is too late,” quipped Kithaka.