Doctor calls on media to help educate public on cancer

National

The media plays a vital role in educating the  public on cancer, Dr Mathias Sapuri says.
Sapuri, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Pacific International Hospital, said the media was in the frontline of relaying information to the community on different types of cancers in the country.
“Globally, there are about six million women who die every year from cancer-related issues, from cervical cancer to ovarian cancer and all the other gynaecological cancer, including breast cancer,” he said.
“Papua New Guinea is not different. In fact, in PNG, we now pick up almost 3500 new cases of women cancers every year, so this statistics show that it’s a huge problem for us.”
Sapuri said cancer would continue to be a huge challenge for PNG so everyone must participate in getting the information out to communities, especially to women and girls.
“It’s very important that young girls not only  know the cancers in our community but also learn the things that they recognise before they recognise cancer,” he said.
“Unfortunately, for us in PNG, there are a lot of women in our community who are not aware of the different types of cancer, especially cancers of the cervix, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and all the other gynaecological cancers”
Sapuri encouraged women and girls to see a health worker to have Pap smear tests done regularly so early signs of cervical cancer can be picked up.
“In terms of breast cancer, women must regularly do their self-examination and if you are not familiar with self-examination, go and see your local doctor to help you out and teach you how to do self-examination,” he said.