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Cervical Cancer Prevention(with information on HPV)In Haiti, cervical cancer mortality ranks among the world’s highest according to the The WHO/ICO Information Centre on HPV and Cervical Cancer. Furthermore, the incidence continues to rise at a rapid pace each year, underscoring the need for preventive measures and access to treatment. For several years now, Family Health Ministries has collaborated with local Haitian physicians in screening women for the human papillomavirus (HPV), a primary cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is a curable disease; however, in developing countries like Haiti with limited access to treatment, the disease if left untreated has devastating consequences for women and their families. Family Health Ministries partnered with the community of Leogane to develop a cervical cancer prevention program in 1993. This program was expanded to FHM’s Blanchard clinic in Port-au-Prince in August 2009, and was later added to two (2) Fondation pour la Santé Reproductrice et l’Education Familiale (FOSREF) clinics in February 2011. Among other sexual and reproductive health services, FOSREF sites also offer HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. Women living with HIV who are also HPV are more at risk for HPV-related complications. Family Health Ministries provides counseling before HPV screening that includes a Haitian Kreyol cervical cancer brochure that women can take home. *Download a PDF version of the brochure here [ English 364kb ] | [ Creole 392kb ] Since September 2007, over 10, 000 women from Leogane and Port-au-Prince have been screened. About 19% of the screened population have tested positive for HPV. Follow up services that include colposcopy and cryotherapy are all being provided in the Leogane and Blanchard clinics and at our new FOSREF partner clinics in Port-au-Prince. The importance of these efforts was recently emphasized by a study sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) & the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which estimated that without better screening strategies, cervical cancer deaths may double in the Caribbean by 2030.
Useful Links related to HPV and our partners.Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) - http://new.paho.org/ Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – http://www.cdc.gov/ CDC Cytology Report - Cytology Report from the CDC Qiagen Corporation - http://www.qiagen.com/ Cytyc Corporation (Merged with Hologic Corporation in 2007) – http://www.hologic.com/en/ National Cancer Institute - http://www.cancer.gov/ National Cancer Institute white paper on HPV - http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/HPV (PDF version here) |