Weekly programme stresses need for cancer awareness

A CHANGE to a healthy lifestyle and the early detection of cancer and treatment are important to the prevention and treatment of breast and cervical cancer, gynaecologist Dr Lutty Amos says.
Amos told people who took part in the Weekly Walk and Yoga for Life programme in Port Moresby on Sunday that five in every 100 women in Port Moresby had got screened.
She stressed the need for more awareness and action to prevent cancer.
“It is sad to share that only 3,700 women have screened in NCD for cancer detection since the opening of the cryotherapy unit for pap smear test in Oct 2016,” she said. “Only 1 percent of these women have had cancer symptoms already developed into the late stages, while between 2 and 5 percent were in the early stage of cancer.”
Amos advises girls between 12 and 15 who are virgins to get vaccinated with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccines which have no adverse effects.
She said an HPV campaign trial conducted at certain schools in the city should be continued.
NCD Governor Powes Parkop has committed to fund the clinic’s cryotherapy unit to influence more girls and women to get screened for cervical cancer. He said the National Cancer Clinic at the Angau Hospital in Lae still did not have any radiotherapy facility to treat cancer patients.
“It is better to know your status sooner because later might be too late for you.
“Ninety-nine percent of women who go for screening get positive results. So do not be misled by anxiety about the results.”