18 Feb 2018

Government  recognises the burden that cervical cancer poses, says Sekgoma Memorial Hospital oncologist, Dr Ahmed Shariff.

As a result, Dr Shariff  said the government has made it a priority to provide screening in the form of cytology in order to creating access to most, if not all.

He told BOPA that it was under this premise that Sekgoma Memorial Hospital was now providing a cancer screening programme which was directed towards early detection of cervical cancer within Serowe proximity.

“Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in Botswana and most of the developing countries,” he noted.

Dr Shariff said Botswana had a high burden of cervical cancer due to a limited screening programme, adding the government had now expanded services to reach people, even in rural areas.

“The See and Treat (SAT) programme for cervical cancer has expanded throughout the country. This programme is directed towards early detection of the cervical cancer in our hospital, also be done provided community based outreach programme, where we utilise the mobile clinic,” he said.

He encouraged more women to take advantage of the service, adding that, the programme used to be done only in Mahalapye and now it was available in Serowe for easier accessibility of resources.

“It is through initiatives by the Ministry of Health and various strategic partnerships that strides have been made in the treatment of pre-invasive and invasive cancer,” he noted.

Dr Shariff noted that through improvements in the care of pre-invasive and invasive cervical cancer patients, there had been a considerable decline in cervical cancer-related morbidity and mortality, adding that more progress towards that was yet to be achieved.

He said through the SAT programme, they used two methods, which included the Visual Inspection Acetic Acid (VIA), adding that in these methods they use vinegar to apply on the cervix, and that if there are any abnormal appearance of the cervix, that can be pre-cancerous, the disease is then arrested or stopped from developing as cancer.

“Basically (SAT) screening, as an alternative to cytology, is performed through visual inspection after acetic acid (VIA) application to the cervix followed by immediate treatment with cryotherapy for screen positive patients,” he said

 He noted that, studies have found the SAT approach cost-effective, safe, and efficacious in screening for and treating cervical dysplasia, adding that, even procedures have been endorsed by multiple recognised international organizations.

“On the other hand, we also used another programme or procedure called the Loop Electro Surgical Excision (LEEP), which we use to treat non-invasive cervical cancer,” he said. He noted that, here, they used special medical equipment to remove the early stage of cervical cancer.

“This is a curative procedure for treating early cancer, and the procedure is done immediately after the consultation, at a span of hardly 20 minutes,” he said.

Further, he advised that the strategy calls for the dual use of VIA and Pap smear or use of either methods, for wider screening coverage for women aged 30–49 years as those were at the highest at-risk group for pre-cancer.

“We recommend our patients to conduct the Pap smear after the utilisation of the VIA and LEEP programmes,” he said.

Dr Shariff further stated that since cervical cancer was hidden in the body, the two programmes were the best, as through them cancer could be easily detected, and hence early treatment would be possible.

He said, most patients usually despair after being diagnosed with cancer, adding that there was hope in cases where cancer was detected early, hence the reason we advise women who are sexually active to utilise their facilities.

“We say so because, cervical cancer is related to the human Papilloma Visual, which is a virus that is mostly transmitted from males to females,” he added.

He upheld that maintaining a good sexual hygiene, which included basic personal hygiene, avoiding multiple partners, avoiding unprotected sex and promotion of circumcision were some of the ways of reducing the risks of infections of cervical cancer. Ends