Chisinau, November 28 to 59 per cent of women aged 25-61 years of the Republic of Moldova, which is supposed to be a test for cervical screening every 3 years to prevent cervical cancer have never had a test. Most of the women who had taken the test, I am in the southern part of the country, but also from a poor family. The data is contained in the first national Survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices in the field of prevention of cancer of the uterine cervix, which was launched this week.
Cervical cancer can be prevented easily by making the ui of the cervical once every three years for women aged 25-61 years of age. In the Republic of Moldova, the screening may be performed free of charge to the family. However, the Study shows that only a quarter of women in this age group have known about the possibility of performing the test, cytology, in our country, and of those, less than half know that the test could not be performed free of charge. In particular, women from the poorest families are the ones who do not know this. And a few of them are women, I know that the test is conducted every three years, so that many of them do I make more (once a year), or more often (every 4-5 years), than it is recommended by the experts.
In the chapter on awareness, and the initiative to do the screening for cervical cancer, the Study shows an important role to play in this respect, the family doctor and gynecologist. 76% of the women who have made the smear test, they performed at the suggestion of the medical staff, and only 22 per cent – of their own free will. The specialists of the forms and are the main sources of information for women about cervical screening, and only 18 per cent of women said that they had been informed through the media.
Asked about the barriers that might hinder you to carry out a screening test for cervical most of the women cited a lack of time, fear, and not knowing where to turn to in order to perform the test. At the same time, the majority of them would prefer to be asked on the test call, or a visit to your family doctor.
Cervical cancer is one of the few diseases, cancer can be prevented by carrying out the test is for screening the cervix, which is absolutely free of charge for all women. We will launch a massive campaign of communication and information of the population, in particular women, in collaboration with partners for the development, organziațiile international authorities, central government, local governments, civil society, the media, and all health care workers to raise awareness of the society about the importance of the prevention of this disease through the control of the regular doctor,” said the minister of Health, Labour and Social Protection, Silvia Radu.
“The records of the international show that almost all cases of cervical cancer can be prevented, if there are any programs for cervical screening in well-organized. UNFPA will continue to support the programme of cervical screening in the Republic of Moldova, and I call on all partners to join us in these efforts, so that every girl and woman needs to be protected from cervical cancer every year,” said Rita Columbia, the Representative of the FUND in Moldova.
“The health and prevention of disease, non-communicable, such as cancer of the cervix, which is one of the priorities of the SDC office in Moldova. A health system that effectively means the services available to any person, and the publicly available information in a systematic sense to everyone,” said Caroline Tissot, Director of the Swiss Cooperation Office in the Republic of Moldova.
The national survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices on prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Moldova was conducted in the fall of 2018, based on a sample of 1226 of the women, including a qualitative component, in the form of focus groups and in-depth interviews with 51 women (25-61 years), the roughly 40-and 15 public health experts.
The results of this Study will be used for the development of a communication strategy for changing the behavior of the women in the audience, as well as for decision-making informed and evidence-based prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Moldova.
The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.8%, which was achieved by Magenta Consulting, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social welfare, with the support of united nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), in the framework of the project “Prevention of cervical cancer in the Republic of Moldova”.
