Watch out for cervical cancer

Watch out for cervical cancer

Early diagnosis usually means an excellent prognosis, but this opportunity is often missed in India where women are usually detected with this cancer at the advanced stage


The incidence of death due to cervical cancer is the highest in India. One of the key reasons for the large number of fatalities is the lack of awareness in the country about cervical cancer. Currently 365.71 million women in India are above the age of 15 years; each one of them stands a high risk of developing cervical cancer. WHO reveals startling figures for India according to their surveys about 132,082 women are annually diagnosed with cervical cancer, out of which about 74,000 die.

What is cervical cancer


Cervical cancer is the cancer of the mouth of the uterus called cervix.
All sexually active women stand at the risk of contracting it.
The good news here is that cervical cancer is one of the very few cancers for which the cause is known and the cancer itself is preventable.
If the cancer is detected at an early stage, i.e. the pre-cancerous stage, it can be treated with a very high success rate. Unfortunately in developing countries like India, women are usually detected with this cancer at the advanced stage by when it becomes incurable . Early diagnosis usually means an excellent prognosis; but this opportunity is missed as women in India are rarely screened. The absence of symptoms and screening often means that women become aware of the cancer only after it has reached a fairly advanced stage. But by then, treatment is extremely difficult.

What can women do to protect themselves from the risk of cervical cancer


At an individual level watch out for a few signs such as pelvic pain or pain during intercourse, bleeding between periods, post-menstrual bleeding and discharge from the vagina.
Increase awareness of cervical cancer and adopt a preventive health-seeking behaviour amongst other women.
Regularly visit your gynaecologist and insist on a screening such as PAP smear and other available options.
In the event that you have an abnormal PAP smear, make sure you follow up on this.