Govt. launches cervical cancer testing programme for women

Jun 22, 2024 News

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– $8,000 voucher available from Monday

Kaieteur News – With the aim of eliminating cervical cancer among women by 2030, the government of Guyana through the Ministry of Health on Friday launched its cervical cancer testing programme.

The programme which was launched at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) will see women between the ages of 21 and 65 years receiving financial assistance in the form of an $8,000 voucher to get the test done.

The vouchers are intended to meet the cost of cervical testing and are redeemable at five private institutions, namely New Vision Medical Centre, Woodlands Limited, Eureka Medical Laboratory, HUIAQI and Balwant Singh Hospital.

It was reported that according to the Ministry’s Chronic Diseases Unit, 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. The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection and is the primary cause for cervical cancer.

Giving an overview of the voucher programme yesterday, Director of Non-Communicable Diseases at the Ministry of Health. Dr. Latchmie Lall said this initiative falls under the Ministry’s ambitious plan for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer 2024 – 2030 which was introduced back in April this year.

The plan was launched under the guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO) strategies, the elimination of cervical cancer 90-70-90 plan, Dr. Lall stated.

She shared that “Guyana crafted a plan to aim to vaccinate 90% of our boys and girls within the ages 9 to 15 with the HPV vaccine, and taking it one step forward to extend that vaccine to women between the ages of 16 to 45. We aim to screen 70 percent of our women, which equates to approximately 211,000 women in all 10 regions of Guyana starting with a simple HPV test. Lastly, we aspire to ensure that all women are diagnosed with precancerous or cancerous lesions have access to quality treatment of the higher standards, which will also include in the near future having access to radiotherapy and brachytherapy services.”

The Director noted that the launch of the voucher programme is one of the most important steps which will ensure that the ministry fulfills its mandate of having women between the ages of 21 to 65 screened for cervical cancer.

“Recognizing that the Ministry of Health will not be able to reach this target alone, we have decided to partner with hospitals and private facilities across the country to provide that testing in a safe, secure and timely fashion with reliable results that will not only identify if you have the virus but it will also tell us the strain of human papilloma virus that is present in patients. This information is crucial for deciding the next step of care for women,” she explained.

Dr. Lall elaborated that the process is simple and related that all women between the ages of 21 to 65, when show up to a clinic or an emergency unit they would be eligible for a voucher.

“You may seek to submit that voucher to any of our public facilities or you may go directly to any of the private facilities listed on the voucher and a sample will be taken off and sent for testing. Results will be made available to you in a 72 to 96-hour period after which a healthcare worker will advise you about next steps,” she mentioned.

Speaking to all women, Dr. Lall said, “This is a golden opportunity to verify early if you’re at risk, and I urge everyone to take full advantage of that. Spread the word; tell all of your female friends. Make it a goal to schedule your tests together if you’re apprehensive of doing it alone. This test is so simple. You may even take the kit home performance in the comfort of your home and return it to a facility however you choose to do it. Make sure you do it. Let’s eliminate cervical cancer from our population so that our women may live longer, healthier lives.”

Speaking on why screening is important, Dr. Radha Sookraj, Registrar of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OBGYN) Department at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) said the purpose of screening is to check for the disease before there are symptoms.

According to Dr. Sookraj, cervical cancer is caused by a persistent infection with HPV.

She noted that globally, cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. There are over 600,000 new cases yearly and over 350 deaths yearly as of 2022, she highlighted.

From the country’s statistics, she explained, “From our cancer registry, the incidence of cervical cancer between 2020 to 2023. There has been an increase from 56 to 91 in 2020 to 2022. However, a slight decrease in 2023. However, the mortality rate is 8% in comparison to ovarian and uterine cancer which is the third most common cancer in Guyana and the second most common in women, the first is breast cancer.”

In encouraging women to get screened she said, “We’ve all heard the proverb: prevention is better than cure and it lies true to itself. So screening actually means early detection of a precancerous lesion or cancer. It initiates from treatment, it decreases the risk of invasive cancer, it increases the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of the patient…Cervical cancer is preventable, screening methods exist; vaccination is available under various treatment options. Cervical cancer can be eliminated and we can do this by 2030.”

Meanwhile, in his address to the gathering Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony said cervical cancer is one of those cancers, that if there are the right interventions, it can actually be prevented from happening to a person.

He stated that is the aim of this programme and that is why President Irfaan Ali and his government have a very special interest in the programme.

“In fact for this programme, we have designated $2.8 billion in this year’s budget,” for the programme, he pronounced.

The minister related that in its fight against cervical cancer, other than the testing programme, the ministry has ramped up HPV vaccination among the younger population.

He said HPV vaccines which were only there for girls have now been expanded to include boys and include ages 16 to 45.  “So we’ve started by targeting children, both male and female, between nine and 15 years of age, and we want to achieve that World Health Organization number of getting to 90%,” he said.

It was noted by the minister that what is happening now, is that persons come to the hospitals when it is too late and when they come in some cases, they have metastasis which means that other organs of the body are affected. When it is at that stage, the minister said it very little they can do.

“Now we want to make sure that we detect very early and we intervene very early. And once we intervene early, the survivability will be much, much, much more increase. And that is the thrust of this programme. We want to make sure that we detect early and if we find any problem that we are able to fix the problem,” he expressed.

This publication understands that come Monday, the voucher will be available in all regions.

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• Director of Non-Communicable Diseases, Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Health, programme, World Health Organization (WHO)

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