PAHO stresses early cancer detection

This announcement was made by Dr Mirta Roses, director of the PAHO earlier this month.

In a release from PAHO, Roses said 80 percent of cervical cancer deaths occurred in developing countries, where 600 women die daily. She said, “The incidence in Latin America and the Caribbean is double that of the developed countries and the mortality rate is triple.”

She said cervical cancer is preventable if precancerous conditions are detected early on.

She reminded that the best solution was early detection to prevent cervical cancer from developing and it was critical that access to detection services be improved for poor women because this can save thousands of lives each year.

Roses said PAHO was promoting mechanisms to improve public health systems’ response to this challenge through support and collaboration with each country at the subregional and hemispheric level.

She said PAHO was part of the Alliance for Cervical Cancer Prevention which included Engender-Health, a non governmental organisation, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, JHPIEGO, a non-profit organisation affiliated with Johns Hopkins University and the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health.

Roses said the Alliance was working to improve cervical cancer detection, prevention, treatment services and the information provided to women, and training for health workers in these areas.

She said support was also being provided for subregional efforts in the Caribbean, South American, Andean Area, and the Southern Cone as well as conducting joint assessments with the ministries of health in ten countries to improve detection and treatment programmes.

Roses said she addressed the International Congress of the International Union against Cancer in Washington earlier this month which reviewed efforts to fight cervical cancer with world renowned experts.

She said the final declaration of the Congress included a call for an international plan to immunise against the human papilloma virus—a causative agent for cervical cancer.