40 specialists from 15 Latin American countries participated in the exchange of experiences on the “Implementation of cervical cancer screening programs based on the HPV DNA test.” This meeting was held at the headquarters of the Pan American Health Organization.
The objective of this meeting was the feedback of experiences and lessons learned in relation to the successes achieved and the challenges with the implementation of the HPV Test, as well as to identify strategies that allow increasing the rate of coverage and treatment in order to reduce cancer. cervix in the Americas.
Cervical cancer is the most frequent neoplasm in women in the prime of their productive lives, who are generally the breadwinners of their families and come from rural areas. Each year this type of cancer affects some 68,000 women according to the GLOBOCAN of the IARC (WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer), although data from the Ministries of Health of the Americas (PAHO) have reported some 83,000 new cases annually. Mortality rates are 3 times higher in Latin America and the Caribbean than in North America, showing enormous inequalities in health. In Nicaragua each year some 1,600 women are detected (2.3% of the data reported by the IARC). However, Nicaragua has one of the highest incidence rates (33 x 105) in Central America, only surpassed by Bolivia in the Southern Cone.
In this event Movicancer presented her experience in the introduction and implementation of the HPV Test; An experience that began in 2014 with the support of PATH, and that has been extended to other health regions of Nicaragua with the support of ANESVAD and AMCA, organizations that are helping to increase coverage with this new method.
This type of test (Test/HPV) has been widely accepted by Nicaraguan women. This was commented by Auxiliadora Pérez, originally from Diriamba, Carazo and beneficiary of this test, who, in a report prepared for the occasion, expressed: “With this new test we feel better, because you know that women, well, we are worth it,” she concluded .
When the level of acceptance of the HPV test was compared, Nicaragua stood out in the percentage amount (96%) of women who decided to take the Self-take test, that is, they decided to take the sample on their own using a “ little brush” for cervical removal, instead of letting a health professional do it. In this sense, Dr. Francisco Maldonado, coordinator of the ScaleUp project at Movicancer, expressed that the key was to have carried out a “market” study (“What women think…”) in order to identify the perception of women women about the real and imagined barriers to not having a Pap smear. Taking these aspects into account, the strategy on which the work in Nicaragua was based was under the motto: “Take the time, do the test yourself.”
This meeting also included the presentation of the work of the Network of National Cancer Institutes (RINC-UNASUR), particularly the new Subregional Plan for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer, of which Movicancer has been a member of the working group for this document and which was collaborative catalyst of the main managers of the Ministries of Health of Latin America in its elaboration. Likewise, PAHO presented the strategic lines of the new PAHO “Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Cervical Cancer” 2018-2030. Plans in which Movicáncer has reiterated its commitment to support.
Representatives of the Nicaraguan Association of Oncology (ANICO), were also participants in this exchange of experiences.
If you want more information about cervical cancer follow this link:
movicancer.org/en/cervical-cancer/
If you want more information about the HPV Test project, follow this link:
