06 Jun 2019

The David Mogoma Foundation (DMF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness in the North East District recently hosted a wellness day in Moroka village to educate women about cervical cancer, fibroids and menopause.

Speaking during the event, the foundation’s spokesperson, Ms Uneni Mogoma explained that the event was significant as cases of fibroids and cervical cancer were rising.

Women’s health and wellness, she said was a worldwide concern. She therefore observed that it was imperative for women to have knowledge of these challenges.

“We are living in the revolutionary era of technology and internet where everything is spread through the internet. This is a challenge for people in rural areas as technology is not accessible in many villages,” Ms Mogoma said.

She advised women to utilise health services available at their disposal in order to detect, diagnose and treat any disease at an early stage.

For his part, senior health education technician in the North East District, Mr Nchengeti Ookeditse stated that it was important to know the signs of any cancer in order for it to be treated promptly if detected in the body.

He said the signs of cervical cancer were irregular bleeding where one bleeds in between periods, unusual heavier menstrual bleeding, and increased virginal discharge with odd brownish colour, amongst others.

Mr Ookeditse explained that cervical cancer could be trigged by having multiple sexual partners, smoking, engaging in early sexual activities as well as failure to receive any prevention on the

Human Papillovirus in one’s life time which he said was normally administered as a vaccine at an early age.

He indicated that a healthy lifestyle could prevent or delay the virus from turning in to a disease, hence calling on the audience to stay away from habits that put them at risk of cervical cancer.

However, he stated that the symptoms could be of a different medical condition not cancer, which was why it was important that women seek medical help if they observed any of the symptoms.

“I encourage women to always go for tests and be cautious of any related symptoms and avoid waiting until diagnosed with this disease because precancerous cells can be treated, rather than the actual disease being attended to at a late stage,” said Mr Ookeditse.

For her part Moroka village nurse, Mr Abel Chunga stated that fibroids were abnormal growths that developed in in a woman’s uterus adding that the tumors can grow quite large causing severe adnominal pain and heavy mensuration.

He said health investigations indicate that the condition mainly affected women in their child bearing ages.

Mr Chunga emphasised that the growths were non-cancerous revealing that there were three types of fibroids  which were those that attack the outside of the uterus, those that could develop on the stem, or the base that support of the tumor and those that  developed in the middle of the muscle layer.

He enlightened that it remained unclear why fibroids develop.

However Mr Chunga emphasized that fibroids may run in the family meaning that there were high chances of one developing them if their grandmother, mother, or sister had them.

Their treatment, according to Mr Chunga differs, common ones being surgery and minimally invasive procedures.  

He said treatment plan may be developed by the doctors or specialists based on one’s age, the size of the fibroids and one’s overall health.

He also stressed that dietary changes could help as a home remedy and natural treatment. He said losing weight and managing stress could also benefit women with fibroids.

Explaining on the issue of menopause, Ramokgwebana village nurse, Ms Lydia Ntsime said menopause was not a disease but a normal condition that all women experience as they age to mark the end of their reproductive period.

She said menopause happened when the ovaries no longer release an egg every month and menstruation stops.

Ms Ntsime said it was considered a normal part of aging when it happened after the age of 40, but underlined that some women could go through menopause early due to different factories like surgery or damage to the ovaries.

She described symptoms of menopause as hot flushes, a sudden feeling of warmth that spread over the upper body.

The severity of hot flushes vary from mild to severe in different women.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi George Moroka of Moroka village, applauded the DMF together with the Ministry of Health and Wellness for educating women on health issues.

He emphasised that learning was very important and that educating  women was a wise decision.

The traditional leader urged the attendants to take every lesson learnt seriously and to apply the teachings in their daily lives. BOPA