Chisinau, 1 November - A new project for the prevention of cervical cancer among women and girls in the Republic of Moldova has been launched recently at the Institute for Mother and Child from Chisinau. The project aims to fight cervical cancer in the period of 2017-2020 years.
Cervical cancer is a serious public health issue in the country. Every day a woman is diagnosed with cervical cancer and every three days one dies because of it. Over the past five years, more than 1,500 women have been diagnosed with this disease and more than 1,000 have lost their lives. According to scientific evidence, almost all cases could be prevented through well-organized cervical screening programmes and vaccination against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) at the adolescence age.
An organized programme means that all women eligible for screening benefit from these prevention services as there is a health system in place for recruiting women, monitoring visits, tracking further developments and ensuring high quality of services at all levels.
“The countries that have implemented such national programmes have a much lower cervical cancer rate. In United Kingdom, the organized cervical screening programme, launched in 1988, saved the lives of more than 4,500 women every year. Finland has currently one of the lowest rate of cervical cancer worldwide”, Rita Columbia, UNFPA Representative said.
The organized cervical screening programme is only at the beginning in the Republic of Moldova. Most of the time the screening is done on an occasional basis, when women are screened at their own request or while attending a doctor for other reasons. This does not guarantee that all women aged 25-61 years are subject to screening every third year, as recommended, leading to an increased incidence of cervical cancer.
"Through the programme we are launching in the Republic of Moldova, we want to increase the number of women receiving cervical screening. Our aim is to reduce the incidence and mortality caused by cervical cancer and the pain associated to it, "said Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Stela Grigoraş
The project "Prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Moldova" will support the health system to provide accessible cervical screening services at the highest quality standards and to inform women and girls about the importance of this prevention method.
Among the core activities of the project are the capacity building of health specialists, including of family doctors, the provision of three cytological laboratories with advanced medical equipment, the introduction of the cervical screening module in university and college curricula, the centralized monitoring and evidence of identified cancer cases.
In addition, an information campaign targeting women and girls will be carried out, including a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Study will be conducted, in order to assess the barriers in cervical screening and come up with solutions to overcome them.
As a result of the project, over 760,000 women aged 25-61 years are expected to benefit from cervical screening services. The cervical cancer incidence will decrease by 20% and the cervical cancer mortality will decrease by 5% until 2025.
The project "Prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Moldova" is jointly supported by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), the International Association for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer and the World Health Organization.
