Prevent cervical cancer, avoid multiple sex partners, women told

By ANN ZULU

WOMEN who are sexually active have high chances of getting cervical cancer, says Dr Monde Mwapa, an expert.

Dr. Mwape explained that the most important risk factor for cervical cancer was Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection, which was usually spread through sexual activity with someone who had HPV infection.

“All women are at risk of getting cervical cancer but certain factors may increase a woman’s risk. For example women who are sexually active have high chances of getting the infection.

“Being sexually active or having many sexual partners, usually more than six sexual partners would increase a woman’s chances of cervical cancer because the risk of HPV infection is increased,” Dr Mwape said.

What is cervical cancer?

Cervical cancer is a disease in which cancerous cells form in the tissues of the cervix.

To describe it in the simplest form, the cervix is part of the female reproductive system and is located between the vagina and the body of the uterus (womb).

Cervical cancer usually develops slowly over time, before you can have cervical cancer, the normal cells of the cervix would usually go through stages where the normal cells slowly start changing to become abnormal.

This is known as cervical dysplasia. Most times these abnormal cells would progress into cancerous cells to become cervical cancer.

There are usually no signs or symptoms associated with cervical dysplasia or early cervical cancer. However, in its progressive stages of cervical cancer, the most common symptoms are pelvic pain and abnormal vaginal bleeding.

The situation of cervical cancer in Zambia

Cervical cancer remains the second most common cancer-affecting women in Zambia, second only to breast cancer.

According to a recent survey by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Zambia and Tanzania have the highest incidence of cancer of the cervix in Africa.

The country’s largest public health institution, University Teaching Hospital (UTH), has continued to diagnose more than two thousand cases of cervical cancer each year and most patients die.

In fact, more Zambian women are at risk since the country has over three million women over 15 years of age.

Causes

Cathy Zulu, a medical student at Mulungushi University says cervical cancer is largely due to lifestyle choices, which she said can controlled.

Ms Zulu agreed with Dr Mwape that having multiple sexual partners increased the risk of getting cervical cancer for a woman.

She however, noted that smoking could also cause cervical cancer.

“Most cervical cancer is caused by a Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), one can get HPV by having sexual contact with someone who has it.

“Smoking, including second hand exposure to cigarette smoking triples a woman’s chances of developing cervical cancer. It is advisable to quit smoking because it does a lot of harm to the body system as a whole,” Ms Zulu said.

Ms Zulu also observed that women with lowered immune system had a higher chance of developing cervical cancer.

“These people would have immune system deficiency and would be unable to prevent abnormal cells from turning into cancer cells,” she said.

She added that being overweight or obese and lack of exercise were other contributing factors for developing cervical.

“Proper balanced nutrition and frequent exercise is encouraged for optimal health and to reduce the chances of developing cervical cancer,” she said.

Prevention

All women are at risk of developing cervical cancer but there is hope knowing that it can be prevented.

In fact, cervical cancer is the easiest gynaecological cancer to prevent, but unfortunately, people largely underutilize preventive screening.

This may be due to ignorance, lack of awareness or laziness.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr Kennedy Malama has encouraged Zambian women to take advantage of cervical cancer screening services available in the country.

Dr Malama said cervical cancer could be prevented with regular screening tests.

“Women should learn to start taking their health more seriously. There are no early signs and symptoms for cervical cancer, it can be only be prevented with regular screening tests. The two screening tests that help prevent cervical cancer are The Pap Test and HPV Test. Pap smear is a test that can be done very quickly at the clinic.

“The doctor would insert a speculum into the vagina in order to be able to visualize the cervix and then uses a swab to scrape the cervix in order to get cervix cells that would be further examined in the lab. This procedure is minimally uncomfortable and it takes only a few minutes.

“Pap smear test looks for changes in the cells of cervix that are most likely to turn to cancer if left untreated. Pap smears are recommended once you turn 21 years and it’s done periodically till 65 years of age.

“The second screening test is the HPV test. The collected cells during the Pap test will be tested for Human Papilloma Virus in the lab.  This test is recommended for women over 30 years old. Both tests are recommended once in 3 years as long as your test results are normal,” Dr Malama said.

The number of women dying of cervical cancer in Zambia is totally unacceptable, especially because routine screening that is easily done, and is relatively inexpensive can easily prevent cervical cancer.

With proper screening, cervical cancer can be detected earlier and stopped.

There is need for intensified awareness about cervical cancer by talking to women and girls especially in rural areas and encourage them to get screened immediately if the fight was to be won.