Campaign for prevention of cervical cancer launched in Moldova

Chisinau, 28 January /MOLDPRES/ - Keep Your Health, Make the Cytological Evaluation! is the title of a national campaign for the prevention of the cervical cancer. The campaign was launched today and will be carried out till 31 March.  

The campaign is organized as a response to the low rate of informing the women from Moldova as to the need to make the cytological evaluation (Pap-test) once in three years. This test, made by women with ages between 25 and 61 years, along with the vaccination in the teen-age, provides maximum of protection against the cervical cancer.   

“I want to speaker in my capacity of woman, mother and sister, warning that life has priority and the most valuable priority is health. I want this message to reach the heart of each woman and who is to understand that one of the most spread forms of cancer can be prevented by making a mere cytological test once in three years, which is carried out at each policlinic for free,” Health, Labour and Social Protection Minister Viorica Dumbraveanu has said at the launch event.    

The action is backed by the Health, Labour and Social Protection Ministry (MSMPS), in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund Moldova (UNFPA Moldova), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), World Health Organization and International Cervical Cancer Prevention Association.  

According to UNFPA Moldova, half a million of the women from all over the world are diagnosed with cervical cancer; yet the morbidity rate among women from the Eastern Europe and Asia is ten-fold higher. “The results of a study show that, in Moldova, only 40 per cent of the women make the cytological test, which is a too small figure. Most women who do not go to doctor regularly are from the rural regions; many of them say they do not have time, they are afraid, while the others do not even know that such a test exists. By this campaign, we must reach as many women from the country as possible, inform them and give them an extra chance,” a UNFPA Moldova representative, Natalia Plugaru, said.      

For his part, a SDC representative, Valeriu Sava, said that Switzerland had supported health care campaigns in Moldova, by getting involved in the organization of this campaign as well. “The action, Keep Your Health, Make the Cytological Evaluation! is quite important or the women from Moldova deserve a qualitative medical aid and in time,” Sava noted.   

The campaign’s agenda sees video/audio spots, evidence given by women who have managed to prevent the disease, education of residents, mass media, as well as of medical specialists. “We are set to bring the society around the public message, Keep Your Health, Make the Cytological Evaluation! and persuade women of this fact. We urge you to join the campaign and convey to the women you love – mothers, wives, sisters, girl-friends, daughters – that a cytological test made once in three years can save their lives. The test is free of charge and is made at the office of the family physician,” MSMPS sources told MOLDPRES.    

The campaign, Keep Your Health, Make the Cytological Evaluation! comes as a result of the programme of the European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, held in Moldova on 20-27 January. The cervical cancer is one of the most frequent types of cancer in women, accounting for 6.9 per cent of all forms of cancer recorded in women. As many as 370 cases are annually registered in Moldova or about 4,200 women presently have this disease. The main cause of the appearance of cervical cancer is the persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), which is identified in 99 per cent of all cervical cancer cases, especially the oncogenic sub-types HPV of the type 16 and 18.