Govt. unveils new strategy to eliminate cervical cancer in Guyana

Apr 13, 2024 News

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– plans to ramp up HPV vaccination, testing & awareness

By Allyiah Allicock

Kaieteur News – With the aim of eliminating cervical cancer among women in the country, the government through the Ministry of Health on Friday launched a new plan of action for the elimination of the disease (2024 – 2030).

The simple but significant launch was held at the Pegasus Corporate Suites in Kingston.

The Ministry’s Chronic Diseases Unit says cervical cancer is a form of cancer that begins in the cervix, the part of the uterus (womb) that opens into the vagina. This cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide and usually affects women between the ages of 30 and 65 years, but women of any age can get cervical cancer.

Opening Friday’s proceedings, Co-ordinator at the Chronic Disease Unit, Dr. Dianele Drepaul said that the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that cervical cancer is the fourth leading cancer in women globally.

“In Guyana, during the years we have found that cervical cancer ranked among the top three cancers in women and also for the year 2023, the Cancer Registry has reported that we had 126 cases, this is too much cases for that year,” she explained.

According to Dr. Drepaul, this disease is preventable and once detected early, it can be successfully treated but it continues to claim many lives. She said that the Health Ministry has a programme which has been in existence for over a decade but they found there are not much uptake of these services, hence authorities met to formalize a new strategy to address this disease.

Giving an overview of the new strategy on Friday was Director of the Non-Communicable Diseases Unit and Mental Health Programme at the Ministry, Dr. Lachmie Lall who related that this action plan deals with five strategic areas.

She told the gathering that the plan was designed to ensure that more Guyanese women survive cervical cancer and can continue to live productive lives and contribute meaningfully to society.

In seeing this plan come into fruition, Dr. Lall said collaborative effort is now needed between the Government, non-governmental organization (NGOs) and the private sector for successful implementation and sustain progress towards achieving the goal of cervical cancer elimination in Guyana.

“This strategic plan is well rounded and ambitious with a multifaceted approach that has the potential to significantly reduce and eliminate the burden of this disease and to improve the outcomes for Guyanese women. Our overarching goal is simple, by the year 2030 we aim to significantly reduce the mortality, morbidity and disability cause by cervical cancer among Guyanese women,” she mentioned.

In explaining the five strategic areas, Dr. Lall elaborated that firstly, this plan would see the ramping up of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme throughout the country. This she said would see them increasing the HPV vaccine coverage among the 9 to 15 age group to an impressive 90 percent. Kaieteur News understands that currently the coverage of vaccination stands at 40 percent.

“By vaccinating our young girls against Human Papillomavirus, the primary cause for cervical cancer is preventing this disease at its very source. We are also further expanding this age group to include women between the age of 16 and 45 years,” she related.

Secondly, the plan would see the expansive screening efforts in ensuring that at least 70 percent of women of reproductive age undergo screening twice between the ages of 21 and 65. The doctor noted that early detection is key to elimination, and that persons will see the incorporation of HPV testing at all healthcare facilities.

Thirdly, Dr. Lall noted that they are dedicated to treating 90 percent of all women with precancerous lesions and 90 percent of all women diagnosed with invasive cancer. Additionally to surgical intervention and chemotherapy for the first time, the ministry will introduce public radiotherapy services.

“Fourthly we recognize the importance of improving the quality of live for women. Up until this point we look at palliative care as end of life care but this new plan would ensure a more holistic approach to palliation and support services that are   essential in providing comfort and dignity to those facing advance disease,” she revealed.

Finally, she said the plan would see the awareness and education on HPV infection be incorporated in teaching curriculum. This would see the continuous education and prevention of HPV infection, promoting vaccination and screening occurring in schools.

She added, “We will implement a comprehensive communication strategy that would extend to all modern social media platforms reaching every corner of our nation with vital information on prevention of cervical cancer.”

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony in his address said that this comprehensive strategy will address from prevention all the way to treatment of the disease. He noted that in dealing with prevention the ministry will not only look at girls but also boys who can get vaccinated.

According to the minister, now that the strategy has been developed the next important task is the implementation.

“I think once we are able to do that, we can come back here within a year’s time or two and assess how far we would have progress… Once we implement what is in the document I think we can all be able to celebrate when we see those numbers for cervical cancer dropping and then we see the coverage for HPV going up. So lets us all work together to make this happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, in her brief remarks, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand welcomed the new plan of action of eliminating cervical cancer in the country. The Minister also made an appeal for women and girls to get their HPV vaccination and get screened early.

“We are fully committed at the Ministry of Education to help you roll this out with all the medical information that you will give to us and make it available to every school child,” Manickchand said.

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• action plan, cervical cancer, Elimination, launched, Ministry of Health

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