Covid-19 does not have to stop cervical cancer screening
During lockdown periods imposed by the Covid-19 state of emergency, outreach healthcare services were scaled back in order to prevent the risk of spreading Covid- 19 to communities. While it has been necessary for these services to be scaled back, it is equally important to restart these services as quickly as possible when the restrictions are lifted in order to catch up with the backlog of patients. It is very important that people continue to receive essential healthcare services, such as cancer screenings and vaccinations. If people do not continue accessing these services, not only will we see the healthcare cost of Covid-19, but we will also see an increase in other diseases and sicknesses.
Cervical cancer outreach screening is one of the services that was put on hold during the initial lockdowns, but the service is now available again within the Covid-19 gathering and movement restrictions. This is because cervical cancer is preventable through screening for the early detection of precancerous cells. These precancer cases can be treated by a doctor or nurse at a local clinic, whereas cases of advanced cancer can only be treated by a specialist at a limited number of hospitals in the country. If there is a delay in the patient seeing a specialist, the cancer cells continue to develop and become more difficult and expensive to treat. Cervical cancer screening is an opportunity to identify cells when they are still at the precancerous stage and can be easily treated. It is a quick, simple, and life-saving process.
Cervical cancer screening is particularly important for HIVpositive women because they are five to six times more likely to develop cervical cancer than those who are HIV-negative. The Ministry of Health and Social Services recommends that HIV-positive women who have ever been sexually active should go for cervical cancer screening every three years. A woman who is sexually active but is not HIV-positive should go for cervical cancer screening every five years. Many women in Namibia have never been screened for cervical cancer, and it is important that all sexually active women, and particularly those who are HIV positive, have their first screening and then the regular screenings afterwards. However, because of the Covid-19 lockdowns, some women will have missed opportunities to be screened for cervical cancer.
As the Covid-19 state of emergency restrictions have been eased, and people are able to access all healthcare services again, the Ministry of Health and Social Services is working hard to catch up with cervical cancer screenings missed during the lockdown period. The ministry’s service has been boosted by the addition of nine new healthcare workers who were trained through online teaching during the lockdown period with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Namibia (CDC Namibia) and funded by the US President’s Emergency Fund for Aid Relief (Pepfar). The addition of these healthcare workers means that the backlog can be reduced much faster. “It is a huge worry that there have been lapses in service provision across the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, but in Namibia, the ministry has used the time wisely to prepare to reach more people when the restrictions are eased. By doing this we can overcome some of the challenges that Covid-19 has brought,” said CDC Namibia Country Director, Dr Eric Dziuban.
The online training for cervical cancer screening was provided by the health ministry trainers with support from I-TECH Namibia. “The group of nine healthcare providers are the first to be certified in Namibia for cervical cancer screening through an online process. We are pleased that it worked so well and we will continue to use this method to train other healthcare workers in the future when in-person training sessions are not possible,” said Dr Laura Muzingwani, from I-TECH who was one of the trainers. The models used for practice were couriered to the participants so they could practice with video support from the facilitators.
“CDC has committed to supporting the Ministry of Health and Social Services to screen approximately 3000 HIV-positive women in the next three months. Each screening has the potential to save a life. The preparation done behind the scenes during the lockdown period will go a long way in helping the Ministry to achieve this target and to save lives,” continued Dziuban.
The health ministry offers the cervical cancer screening services at local clinics across the country. Cervical cancer screening is also offered by the ministry on outreach visits to communities, which is an effective way of encouraging social distancing. This is particularly helpful for people who may be at increased risk of Covid-19 infection and want to limit visits to their local clinics. -CDC Namibia