Every year 250,000 women worldwide die from cervical cancer. But as deadly as it is, cervical cancer is also very preventable. And prevention will be the focus of a week long campaign by the Belize Cancer Society and Ministry of Health under the theme: “pap smear is prevention.” The campaign was launched this morning.
Teresita Loya, Drew University
“We are going to be offering this week, we are going to do cervical cancer education, we are going to offer free pap smears, we will also be offering HPV testing which is the virus that causes cervical cancer and we also will be offering treatment for those who need it.”
Dr. Algo Mendez Sosa, OB-GYN
“It will seem that we have finally broken the barriers of silence and taboo and our women now have an open mind and are coming forward to take charge of their health.”
“Speaking about prevention is not possible if not taking into consideration the participation of our community nurse’s aides. We had a team of CNA going home to home in Belize City talking to women and inviting them to come to have their pap smears and their HPV test done and the one to one communication is known to be the most effective.”
During the program, the Ministry of Health hopes to perform pap smears on 500 women.
