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Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Ever since I became a part of FACC, it has become a daily habit to scan the newspapers and the internet to find out if there has been anything written or discussed about cervical cancer. The last few weeks has seen a steady flow of articles/tips/stories on cervical cancer. It looks like the word is finally out on the big C. Just a few quotes from some of these articles:
“Even though the doctor had told me it was completely curable, the word cancer has some stigma attached to it”- Sunaina Roshan, cervical cancer survivor to India Today Woman.
“In India alone, eight women die every hour due to cervical cancer. Around 27 per cent of female cancer patients suffer from cervical cancer”- Dr. Leela Bhagavan to the Deccan Chronicle.
“While in recent years, India has made tremendous economic progress, there is one area where it still lags woefully behind. I refer here to the incidence of cancer of the uterine-cervix or cervical cancer. In fact, we have the dubious distinction of outstripping any other country when it comes to the number of cases of this type of cancer (132,000 new cases are reported every year and around 74,000 women die annually of it)” - Harmala Gupta, Founder CanSupport, in The Hindustan Times.
“Many a time, women are shy or afraid to come forward even they have problems related to HPV. Further, lack of awareness of the disease is another problem to prevent the disease in early stage, though it is one of the most common illnesses faced by the women in India. The NGOs and government should work on spreading awareness about tests like Pap Screening”- Dr. Gagan Saini, Oncologist, to Pharmabiz.com
“Survival after cervical cancer caught in its earliest stage is 92 per cent. Regular screening can help ensure it is caught at an early and treatable stage”- A Times Wellness Column article.
“Simple test could cut cancer deaths in poor nations”-Reuters
”Mandy Moore joins fight against cancer”-Dailytimes.com
To keep the word on cervical cancer spreading, I urge every woman out there to spend a mere 10 minutes visiting their gynaecologist and getting a pap test done and recommend it to your family and friends as well..you never know who might be next!
Contributed by: Mayurakshi Barua, New Delhi
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Women at the grassroots level!! A perspective
0 comments Posted by Fight Against Cervical Cancer at 8:19 PMThe revelations at the seminar were indeed shocking. Women in rural India are quite ill informed about the importance of maintaining proper hygiene. Did you know, basic stuff such as the use of sanitary napkins during periods is most uncommon among women in rural India? Let alone use sanitary napkins, the women in question do not even use a clean and sterilized cloth. Given these facts, the high incidence of diseases such as cervical cancer etc. does not come as a surprise.
The fact is further explained by the risk factors that are found in abundance in rural India. Factors such as early onset of sexual intercourse and promiscuity, both of which are quite prevalent in rural India, make the women in these areas extremely prone to developing cervical cancer.
Sporadic programs have been initiated by individual states in India to address the issue of cervical cancer; however it just isn’t sufficient. Contributing one-fourth the total incidence of cervical cancer in the world, India definitely needs to formulate a nation wide focused campaign to combat this deadly disease.
Contributed by: Akshay Joshi, New Delhi
