World Cervical Day: NGO targets to reach 10m Nigerians

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), George Kerry Life Foundation, has called for massive awareness on Cervical Cancer, just as it targets to reach 10 million Nigerians, as part of activities to commemorate the 2022 World Cervical Day.

The founder of the foundation, Dr. Matilda Kerry-Osazuwa, made this call on Tuesday, during a virtual news briefing to mark 2022 World Cervical Day in Abuja.

Kerry-Osazuwa said the foundation's target is to reach 10 million Nigerians.

The theme of the World Cervical Day was entitled: "War Cry: Last Mile Campaign on Cervical Cancer."

She said the theme was designed as multisectoral advocacy and medical outreach which targetted 10 million people with key messaging on basic healthcare tips for early detection, prevention and treatment of the disease within the demographic segment of vulnerable women.

Supreme reports that January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. The cervix is the lower, narrow end of the uterus, or womb.

It forms a canal between the uterus and vagina, which opens to the outside of the body. The cervix acts as a gateway to the uterus through which sperm travel to reach and fertilize an ovum, or egg cell, to create an embryo.

Kerry-Osazuwa and convener of the medical outreach, described the Cervical Cancer as the second most prevalent cancer among women with higher prospects of prevention and treatment.

"With over 12,075 cervical cancer cases and 7,968 deaths recorded annually in Nigeria, there is need for a scale up to sustain the impact of public sensitisation on cervical cancer.

"There is a multi-sectoral collaboration in response to the call by the World Health Organisation, (WHO) for an intensified global effort to "Eliminate Cervical Cancer.

"The Foundation in collaboration with Beacon Premium Solutions Limited, communications Partner has flagged-off the 2022 public sensitisation and medical outreach," she said.

Mrs. Clare Omatseye, Managing Director of JNC International Limited, outlined the basic prevention tips to include early vaccination, screening and pre-cancer treatment.

Omatseye said women within child-bearing age and sexually active girls are the vulnerable demographic segment of the women populace to this disease.

"It is instructive for these vulnerable groups of women to undergo screening once in two to three years.

"The screening process is simple and fast. The cells are put into a special liquid and sent to a laboratory for testing.

"Cervical Cancer is the one of the few cancers with a pre-cancer stage. Which means you can stop it before it starts.

"You can prevent cervical cancer through regular screening, there are also vaccines which protect against the HPV virus," she said..

Omatseye said that every Nigerian needs to commit to elimination of Cervical cancer as this would ensure that women no longer suffer and die from a preventable and curable disease.

She said that it is a choice to restore women's dignity in Nigeria to de-stigmatise women's healthcare, and to confront the problems.

On his part, Mr. Emeka Mba, Chief Executive Officer, Beacon Premium Solutions, Communications Partner, elaborated on the over-arching theme of the campaign which targeted over 10 million Nigerians.

Mba said: "this would be achieved through key messaging and WHO-recommended preventive health care tips which will be disseminated through sustained month-long radio jingles, rendered in the various ethnic languages in order to reach women at the grassroots.

"It is gratifying to note that the media, as the critical agenda-setter in promoting viable communities, has signed up to support the campaign."

He said the aim of Cervical Health Awareness month was to encourage women to visit their health care providers for routine gynecological check up.

Mba said that simple screening tests are available that could detect common cervical disorders, such as human papillomavirus infections and cervical cancer.

Other disorders of the cervix included cervicitis cervical stenosis and incompetent cervix.

WHo reports that globally over 570,000 women are diagnosed with invasive Cervical cancer every year. Providing education in best practices for prevention and treatment is key to seeing the number drop.

Cervical cancer is the most deadly cancer among women in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is caused by the HPV virus, which is sexually transmitted.

Through the CervicalCancer elimination initiative, WHO, is aiming for 90 per cent girls globally to be vaccinated against HPV by 2030.