The workshop aims to train healthcare providers with skills in the screening and detection procedures needed to conduct Pap smears and will continue until Wednesday, December 20, 2023. This collaborative effort between the TRHA and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) was initiated. Dr. Randy Thomas, a district medical officer in the TRHA, spoke about primary and secondary prevention for cervical cancer.
“Primary prevention is any activity undertaken to reduce one’s probability of developing a disease in the first place. These activities need not be medical, the objective of primary prevention is to restrain the development of a disease or a negative health condition before it occurs.” Dr. Thomas further explained that secondary prevention involves the early detection and treatment of diseases. For cervical cancer, this includes screening through Pap smears and cervical cytology.
Dr. Thomas shared some statistics, stating that there were an estimated 604,000 new cases of cervical cancer, with 342,000 deaths in 2020 alone. He questioned why 72,000 women are diagnosed yearly in Latin America and the Caribbean, underscoring the alarming numbers of women contracting the disease.
Dr. Thomas stated that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) causes cervical cancer and other types of HPV viruses. He listed various methods of primary and secondary prevention for cervical cancer, such as condom use, HPV vaccination, smoking cessation, and Pap testing, emphasizing that both methods should be used in conjunction with each other.
Additionally, Dr. Thomas noted that HPV vaccines are available to both genders from ages nine to twenty-six, emphasizing that the combination of the HPV vaccine and cervical screening provides the most effective protection against cervical and HPV-related cancers
