Cervical Health Awareness Month Launches

Earlier today [Jan 10] ‘Cervical Health Awareness Month’ was launched, and the Department of Health and the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre have partnered to develop a promotional campaign with the tagline, “Just Five Minutes Can Save Your Life”.

Posters featuring Senator Kim Wilson, comedian Nadanja Bailey, radio personality Kristy ‘Miss Thang’ Burgess and Olympic diver Katura Horton-Perinchief will be used to raise awareness. Ms Horton-Perinchief and Mr Bailey are pictured below with the new Cervical Cancer Awareness posters:

Minister of Health Zane DeSilva said “The awareness campaign is part of the Government’s commitment to ensure that all Bermudian women are fully educated about the prevention of cervical cancer and are fully aware that preventative programmes are readily available and accessible to all women and girls. My greatest hope for this campaign is that the message gets out to the public that cervical cancer is a highly preventable disease.”

Minister DeSilva’s full statement follows below:

Good Afternoon.

It is an honour and a privilege to stand before you today to launch ‘Cervical Health Awareness Month’.

The awareness campaign is part of the Government’s commitment to ensure that all Bermudian women are fully educated about the prevention of cervical cancer and are fully aware that preventative programmes are readily available and accessible to all women and girls.

My greatest hope for this campaign is that the message gets out to the public that cervical cancer is a highly preventable disease.

Vaccines are available to prevent HPV infections which are known to be one of the leading causes of cervical cancer. Early detection of cervical cancer is possible through regular screening tests such as the PAP test.

Only fifty years ago, cervical cancer was the leading cause of cancer-related deaths of women in the United States. However, according to research undertaken by the American Cancer Society, following the implementation of routine PAP tests the number of deaths related to cervical cancer has reduced by almost 75%.

When pre-cancer change is identified during routine screening it is eminently curable.

When cervical cancer is identified in its early stages, it is highly treatable often resulting in long term survival with excellent quality of life.

However, if left undetected or found in its advanced stages, cervical cancer becomes more difficult to treat.

As an indication of the extent of this problem, figures show that over 500,000 women worldwide developed cervical cancer in 2005 alone.

This year the Department of Health and the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre have partnered to develop an extensive promotional campaign with the tagline, “Just Five Minutes Can Save Your Life”.

The primary purpose of the campaign is to encourage women over the age of 21 to have regular PAP tests and to encourage them to talk with their doctors about protection against HPV through vaccination.

As pre-cancerous changes of the cervix can be detected through regular PAP screening it is imperative that we educate women about the importance of this simple test.

In addition, because HPV is known to be the main cause of most cervical cancers, we also have a duty to let the community know that vaccines are readily available to prevent this form of cancer.

Two vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix, are available at the Department of Health. Private physicians who wish to provide HPV protection to their patients can also obtain the vaccine from the Department of Health.

It is recommended that vaccination against HPV be offered to adolescent girls between the ages of 11 to 12 years, or as close to these ages as practical, and continue to be available to young women up to a maximum age of 26.

We strongly encourage all parents to talk to their pediatricians or General Practitioners about the benefits of the HPV vaccine for their adolescent daughters.

The secondary goal of this month’s campaign is to educate the public about other means of preventing cervical cancer.

We want to ensure that all adolescent girls and young women understand the health benefits of delaying sexual activity until adulthood, reducing the number of lifetime sexual partners, not smoking and getting the HPV vaccine before the onset of sexual activity. These ‘healthy behaviors’ all considerably reduce the risk of cervical cancer and contribute greatly to cervical health.

I would like to invite the public to attend a free presentation entitled “Cervical Health, the Importance of Regular Testing and the HPV Vaccine” on Thursday, January 20th at 6:30pm at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. The guest speaker is Dr. Hilda Dunsmore, gynecologist and Medical Officer at the Department of Health.

Representatives from the Bermuda, Cancer and Health, the Department of Health, and from the pharmaceutical companies who produce the HPV vaccine, Merck & Co, and GlaxoSmithKline, will also be in attendance to answer any questions.

Remember: Cervical Cancer is preventable and “Just five Minutes Can Save Your Life”.

I would now like to turn the podium over to Ms Rhonda Smith-Simmons, the Education Officer for the Bermuda Cancer and Health Center.

Thank You.

#Health

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