Fight Against Cervical Cancer

I am 26, single, independent and well informed about the world around me. About 5 years ago I finished my post graduation and entered into the corporate world, a journey I was eager to tread. The beginning of this journey was slightly faltering, as I was trying to discover myself and a profession that would define me. Today, fortunately I have a profession that defines me and I have been blessed to work on projects that I totally believe in and support.

Fight Against Cervical Cancer is one such project, talking about which takes me back to the time where were discussing causes that we wanted to be associated with and when cervical cancer was thrown on the table majority of us thought it was the cancer of the neck……the project certainly has come a long way since then!….To begin with I know its not the cancer of the neck, it’s the cancer of the cervix uteri or cervical area; kills eight Indian women every waking hour…..sadly India leads this dark race of death.

Human nature is certainly strange, I knew how deadly this disease was and how ignorance was killing close to 75,000 Indian women but I somehow felt I couldn’t be susceptible to it. Could I be? I was sexually active, I have had multiple partners and I smoke. My lifestyle was certainly pointing in that direction but somehow I didn’t want to accept it.

Fortunately my work required me to constantly read about cervical cancer and the knowledge empowered me to visit a gynaecologist and overcome my paranoia about doctors and hospitals.

While sitting at the gynaecologist and waiting to be called the anxiety gave me goose bumps. The doctor soon called me in and asked me undress and covered me with a sheet. She inserted a lubricated speculum (is a small medical tool for investigating body cavities) into the vagina and using a small mascara-like brush, took sample cells from the cervix. She then placed it in a tube and sent to the lab for testing. I experienced uneasiness; there is however no pain involved – It was easy & quick.

At the end of it I didn’t have abnormal results - I knew I was safe. I did heave a sigh of relief but on my things to do I do have the gynaecologist visit. I have come to believe prevention is better than cure. So be smart, visit your gynaecologist and insist on a pap smear.

Contributor: Yein, Age: 26, New Delhi

Clock work and health check ups could be synonyms in the western world especially for women but not so in India and I often wonder why? Is it because we feel we are immortal or do we just not care enough about our health?

While my graduation, I was placed in US and it was during this phase that I realized the importance of routine medical check-ups. Annual health check ups were encouraged and a pap smear was a must. I spent about 10 years and each year there was a medical check up, there was no escape from this routine…

I still recall my first pap smear; I was a bit anxious of the procedure. My physician detailed out the Pap smear procedure and the importance of it. It was a simple test to check my cervical cells under the microscope for any changes. The Pap test can tell if you have an infection, abnormal (unhealthy) cells, or cancer. There was no pain involved whatsoever in the procedure and five minutes is it all it took.

When I returned to India it was a like a new country….every where I looked, there was something new….malls, flyovers, etc etc.

A year into settling back, I went for my annual medical check up and it was here that I saw the India I had grown up in. I walked in to the gynaecologist’s and told her I was here for a routine annual check up. She looked a bit surprised and she asked me a few questions and said ok you are fine; I was taken aback! I demanded a pap smear and the procedure was no different just that I had to be aggressive to get one.

I came back very distressed and checked with my friends if they had faced a similar situation. Most of them said no, as they had never visited one. It was during these conversations I discovered that in India regular health check ups are not a practice and gynaecologist visits are not considered important. I was told most women only consult OB-GYN when they contracted infections or incase they are were planning a family.

In India, healthcare is a matter of concern. India accounts for a shocking one in eight cervical cancer deaths in the world, there is little or no awareness about the disease.

We owe it to ourselves to live healthy, so please visit a gynaecologist and insist on a pap smear!

Post contributor: Abhijit Kaur, New Delhi