This article is from The Vanuatu Independent newspaper, it yet again highlights our lack of proper health care and the need for a review of our health system. This is just another piece in the pie among other health issues we have here, for instance our maternity ward can no longer cater and support the ever increasing number of mothers and new born babies per month. Woman and their babies have had to leave the ward earlier than scheduled for lack of beds thus the follow up work is difficult. This is by no means a fault of the pool of human resources we have who might I add do a tremedous work operating the medical ward but they simply cannot carter for the sheer numbers of newborn babies let alone their mothers.
I hope the government and the ministry of health do something about this latest revelation because we simply cannot keep moving like this, something has got to give.
by Rita Bill
Woman’s Column, The Vanuatu Independent 07 October 07
Cervical cancer kills more than 288,000 women each year worldwide according to the Epidemiology and Cancer Registry Unit at the Institut Catala d’Oncologia. Disproportionately it affects most vulnerable women, in developing countries such as Vanuatu, where women face many barriers to early detection and treatment of the disease.
Cervical cancer is a major problem among women in Vanuatu because there is currently no cervical cancer screening program, due to the lack of funding, and resulting in the loss of many lives.
Wesley Research Institute researchers, led by Chief Investigators Dr Margaret McAdam and Dr Scott Kitchener, were in Port Vila, in January and were studying a rapid, low cost method of detection of cervical cancer in women, a method called VIA
(Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid) and VILI
(Visual Inspection with Lugols Iodine). This was a screening program which involved 500 women from around Port Vila.
It was after six months of the first phase of the pilot survey, that Dr Margaret McAdam from Brisbane Women’s Health Medical Practice, in Australia, wrote a letter to the minister of health in Vanuatu to comment on the fine work of the ministry of health on the recent cervical cancer project. She also observed that the project has proved that there’s a demand for a cervical cancer clinic in Vanuatu.
Vanuatu need not wait for the health infrastructure to approach that of an industrialised nation but can start saving lives immediately. Evaluating the burden of disease in the country and helping decision makers to formulate recommendations on cervical cancer prevention, would follow, including the implementation of the newly developed HPV vaccines.
So, what is cervical cancer ?
Cancer of the cervix occurs when the cells of the cervix change in a way that leads to abnormal growth and invasion of other tissues or organs of the body. It also means that the cancer affects the deeper tissues of the cervix and may spread to other parts of the body.
Causes
Now, Cervical cancer begins with abnormal changes in the cervical tissue. The risk of developing these abnormal changes has been associated with certain factors, including previous infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), early sexual contact, multiple sexual partners, cigarette smoking, and taking oral contraceptives (birth control pills) for longer than 5 years.
Symptoms
As in many cancers, you may have no signs or symptoms of cervical cancer until it has progressed to a dangerous stage. The most common symptom is abnormal vaginal bleeding other than during menstruation.
Prevention
The key to preventing invasive cervical cancer is to detect any cell changes early, before they become cancerous.
An important reason for the higher incidence in Vanuatu is the lack of effective screening programs to detect precancerous conditions and treat them before they progress to cancer.
Vanuatu has a population of 62,489 women aged 15 years and older (Survey of 2005) who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 14 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 8 die from the disease.
Cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer in women in Vanuatu, and the second most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age.
Annual numbers of new cases of cervical cancer according to age in Vanuatu 15 – 44: we have 6 new cases annually, from 45 – 54: we have 3 new cases annually and from 55 – 64: we have 4 new cases annually.
Out of every 500 women screened in Vanuatu, recently, 45 women will have abnormal cells that have the potential to become cancerous and could be treated to prevent the cervical cancer forming, 5 women will already have cancer and will die without treatment, and that’s the lives of 50 mothers potentially saved for every 500 women screened.
Cervical cancer has a major impact on women in Vanuatu. If it is not detected and treated early, cervical cancer is nearly always fatal. The programs are complex and costly to run and have failed to reach a significant proportion of women in countries like Vanuatu where health systems and infrastructure are poor.
Thus, the government of Vanuatu must initiate something by strengthening the guidance for health policy implementation of primary and secondary cervical cancer prevention strategies in Vanuatu and also implement usage of the newly developed HPV vaccines.
Brisbane researchers who tackled cervical cancer in Vanuatu (including the Australian scientist who developed the world’s first cervical cancer vaccine), have confirmed that this project will provide a comprehensive model for cervical cancer screening and prevention in Vanuatu. Vanuatu is the first country around the South Pacific to be involved in the cervical cancer screening program and all island countries are watching Vanuatu’s involvement with this innovative program.
The second phase of the project is the vaccination of young girls who are virgins or not sexually active yet, in order to prevent them catching the human papillomavirus virus (HPV).
The program also has the benefit of treating sexually transmitted infections detected on examination. Thus reducing infertility. It helps prevent pregnancy complications and provides opportunity to measure blood pressure, blood sugar and weight to give appropriate lifestyle advice, to try and prevent future heart disease and diabetes. This is truly a “whole woman” program aimed at reducing many diseases that affect women.
This is a lot of money, but the government has no choice than to save our mothers because the effects on society when a mother dies are devastating on the husband, children, extended families and friends. Reducing its effects will have far reaching benefits for all Vanuatu as women remain as productive members of their communities, caring for the aged and sick, raising well adjusted children who grow up to contribute to the betterment of Vanuatu.
80% of women who die of cervical cancer die in countries like Vanuatu because there is no cervical cancer screening. Perhaps we could honour our mothers in a different way this year, especially for our mothers who have passed away.
When a mother lives:
Husbands and children don’t lose their wives and mothers,
Children have their mothers to nurture and love them during their lives,
Sisters and brothers keep their sister lifelong for support and encouragement,
Parents keep their daughters to care and comfort them in their old age.
Friends continue to share the joy of their friendship,
Work associates continue the working camaraderie which brings richness and joy to the day, and grandchildren that will have doting grandmothers to love and spoil them as they grow up.
And so the circle of love that a mother brings to those around her continues to go on and on, when a mother is saved.
Think about a Mothers’ Day gift donation to support the mothers of Vanuatu Cervical Cancer Screening project and help save their lives.
They have no one else to turn to for help except a country and its people who are much more fortunate than themselves.
Anything you can do to help will be a gift that keeps on giving for generations to come, when a mother’s life is saved.
tHe REd TaNk 
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