Irina is 46 years old and managed to prevent cervical cancer thanks to the Papanicolaou test. During one of the routine check-ups, the woman was diagnosed with precancerous lesions, and a surgical intervention helped her avoid an oncological disease in the future.
“I was sure I was healthy”
“I didn’t have any symptoms to put me on guard. I was so sure the tests would come out fine that I forgot to leave the doctor my phone number. When the results came back and it turned out I had problems, the doctor had to look for me through social media”, Irina recalls.
She says doctors had to act quickly to prevent the spread of cells that could cause her cancer. She had surgery, spent a few days in the hospital, and was able to resume her normal life shortly after being discharged. Because she managed to intervene in time, Irina was spared numerous complications and painful procedures in the future, and now she is in good health.
At Irina’s urging, all her friends got the Pap test.
The experience she went through made her pay even more attention to her health, but also to help the women around her understand how important the Pap test is. “I urge all women to see their family doctor as often as possible. When the mother is healthy, the whole family is happy. We should not be afraid. The later you find out the diagnosis, the lower the chances of complete treatment,” says Irina.
She believes that free testing of women and information campaigns are the best solutions for preventing cervical cancer: “The initiatives to go through villages and cities and do checkups are very good.
I think it would also be good to have the possibility of this check being carried out on Saturdays, when women are not caught at work.”
National study: few women in Moldova know how to prevent cervical cancer
Like Irina, hundreds of women could prevent cervical cancer if they went to their family doctor on time for a cytology test.
With regret, National study on knowledge, attitudes and practices in the field of cervical cancer prevention, conducted in the fall of 2018, shows that more than half of women aged 25-61 in the Republic of Moldova, who should take this test every 3 years, have never done it.
According to the Study, only a quarter of women of eligible age in the Republic of Moldova know about the possibility of having a cytological test, and of these, less than half know that the test can be done for free. Women from poor families in particular are the ones who do not know this.
Even fewer women know that the test is done once every three years, so many of them do it either more often (once a year) or less often (once every 4-5 years) than is recommended by specialists.
Asked about the barriers that would prevent them from performing the cervical screening test, most women cited lack of time, fear, but also not knowing where to go to perform the test.
Cervical cancer will be prevented
A modern Colposcopy Reference Center inaugurated as part of the cervical cancer prevention program.
The situation will change in the coming years, thanks to a extensive cervical cancer prevention program, carried out during the years 2017-2020, by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Romanian Agency for International Development Cooperation (RoAid), in partnership with the International Association for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer and other partners.
results National study on knowledge, attitudes and practices in the field of cervical cancer prevention will be used to develop a communication strategy for behavior change among women in the target group, as well as for making informed and evidence-based decisions in this area. As a result, it is expected that the number of cases of this type of cancer will be reduced by 20% by 2025, and mortality from the disease will be reduced by 5% over the next seven years.
