Get screened and be vaccinated

IN Malaysia, cervical cancer is the third most common cancer affecting women.

The World Health Organisation estimates that each year, as many as 2,000 Malaysian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Pap smear screening and vaccination remain the two combinations that play an important role in targeting the virus.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted virus that is very common worldwide.

There are more than 200 different HPV types and 80 per cent of people will have HPV at some point in their lifetime. While for many it will cause no harm, some types of HPV are known to cause certain cancers such as cervical, anal and oropharyngeal cancer.

Worldwide, cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women and an estimated 270,000 women die of cervical cancer every year.

In developed countries, HPV vaccination is considered as one of the effective approaches to prevention, together with HPV test and pap smear screening which are targeted at those who may have been affected with the virus.

However, due a lack of access to these preventative measures in developing countries, HPVrelated cancers are frequently diagnosed in late stages, which makes treatment less effective and reduces the chance of survival. Hence, the effects of HPV in underprivileged communities are alarming. A combination of HPV vaccination and regular cervical screening is a highly effective approach for cervical cancer.

In an effort to ensure Malaysians are protected against HPV, the country became one of the first to provide HPV vaccination for schoolgirls aged 13.

However, apart from the immunised school cohort, other women who have not benefited

from the National Immunisation Programme are still at risk of the disease.

While pap smear screening is available in many health clinics throughout the country, there are still many women who are not aware of the importance of prevention and therefore do not go for their routine screening. This contributes to the 40 per cent of cancer cases that are diagnosed in late stages.

This is why increased HPV vaccination to provide the broadest protection against HPV and cervical screening are imperative in the fight against cervical cancer and HPV related diseases.

“Every day, I see the devastating effects of advanced cervical cancer on women and their families. Many of these cases can be prevented or fully treated. A combination of HPV vaccination and regular cervical screening is highly effective in preventing cervical cancer,” says Professor Dr Woo Yin Ling, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Universiti Malaya and honorary consultant at Cancer Research Malaysia.

Malaysians need to know that we have the tools to make cervical cancer a rare disease, adds Dr Woo.

As a long-term multi-institutional effort to eradicate cervical cancer in the country, a pilot cervical screening programme led by the university called Project ROSE (Removing Obstacles to cervical ScrEening) will take place with the aim to empower women to take the first step in protecting themselves against cervical cancer.

The link between HPV and cervical cancer was discovered in mid-1970s, and since then researchers have also discovered that HPV can cause other cancers in both men and women.