Fighting Cervical Cancer

The most important tool in the fight against cervical cancer is prevention. Prevention is best achieved by regular screening (1). This presents some important challenges to women, especially poor women

· Poor women, in particular those in developing countries often do not have access to free health services, or cannot afford to pay for screening. Moreover, if such services are available they are often in urban areas, which can act as an impediment for many rural women.

· A woman is more likely to put the health needs of her family above her own, so if money for a doctor is available, it will be spent on the children rather than their mother.

· Fear of her partner may also discourage a woman from having regular screening check-ups. He may refuse to allow her to go to the gynecologist, to pay for the screening, or for transportation to the clinic/hospital.

· In many societies women have no control over their sexual relations. Whether or not a woman can control when and with whom she has sexual contact is crucial in determining whether she can protect herself from exposure to HPV.

· Negative experiences with doctors or health workers in general may prevent women from having regular screening check-ups (6).

· Screening programs in Latin America tend to be linked to family planning programs, as a result they reach mainly women who are under thirty. Since the high-risk group for cervical cancer includes women between the ages of 30 and 60, screening programs are not as beneficial as they could be (1).

· A lack of information about the screening procedure, or fear of the results can also act as an impediment to regular screening check-ups (6).