3 min readNew DelhiApr 7, 2009 01:30 PM IST
First published on: Apr 7, 2009 at 01:30 PM IST
British reality star Jade Goody’s televised last days have created awareness about cervical cancer world over including in India where the number of such cases is said to be among the highest.
Lack of awareness,multiple sexual partners and unhygienic living conditions are mainly attributed for the rise of the disease which causes the largest number of deaths among women worldwide.
“Unhygienic conditions of poor people is the prime culprit for the rise of cervical cancer,” says Dr Amit Bhar,Medical Oncologist,Max Hospital.
A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that about 1.3 lakh new cases of cervical cancer are reported every year,in India and about a quarter of the five lakh cases globally.
“Slums also exist abroad but they are clean and maintained in terms of hygiene. Also,even though in low socio-economic bases women have multiple sexual partners,there is minimal use of protection in India,” says Bhar.
Experts point out that women need to be sensitised to curb the growth of this disease.
“Even the educated class are not aware of cervical cancer and often link it with the neck. We have to explain to them that cervical cancer is caused in the lower part of the body,” says gynaecologist,Sunita Verma. Cancer Research Foundation of India (CRFI),a recently constituted body is actively involved in spreading awareness.
Dr Siddharth Sahni,co-founder,CRFI says,”Awareness,prevention and detection is what we are striving for to deal with cancer. We need to reach out to both grass roots and urban India.”
A study conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine points out that by using Human pappilomavirus (HPV) testing in developing countries,the menace can be reduced substantially to a very less number of deaths due to cervical cancer in advanced stages.
The implications of the findings of this trial are immediate and global: international experts in cervical-cancer prevention should now adapt HPV testing for widespread implementation,according to a statement released by Asianet.
“The remarkable promise of the Indian trial presents a worthy global challenge to implement smart,regionally tailored strategies that will efficiently save millions of lives in the years ahead,” Dr Mark Schiffman and Sholom Wacholder of US National Cancer Institute said in an editorial that accompanied the study.
The trial conducted in Maharashtra with 130,000 women used three types of screening- HPV testing with DNA technology,Papanicolaou (PAP) testing and visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid or VIA. HPV testing was found to be most objective and reproducible of all cervical cancer screening tests and less demanding in terms of training and quality assurance.
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