The department and the Commonwealth Cancer Coalition are encouraging all women to have an annual pap smear test to protect themselves from cervical cancer.
This was also emphasized by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in the proclamation he signed at the Commonwealth Health Center yesterday, declaring January as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.
Commonwealth Cancer Coalition president Alexander Sablan said they are urging all women 19 years old and above to have an annual pap smear test even if they have already taken the HPV vaccine.
He said the vaccine helps prevent cervical cancer among young women, but an annual pap smear is still important.
“Early detection is your best prevention,” Sablan said.
In the CNMI, Public Health has noted a high rate of cervical cancer, but only 388 women have undergone pap smears and HPV tests from June 2007 to June 2008.
A cancer survivor who attended yesterday’s proclamation signing admitted that about 14 years ago, she repeatedly missed her HPV screening appointments for about two years because her family was “going through a lot of debts.”
One day, she said, she felt something that was not right in her body.
“Now, I’m taking one day at a time,” said the survivor who is among the 70 women in the CNMI diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer within the last 10 years.
Fitial, in his proclamation, said too many women in the CNMI have died because they did not get “a simple and important annual pap smear test.”
He noted that the current rate of cervical cancer for locals in the CNMI is more than three times higher than those of Hawaii or the mainland U.S.
Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez, for his part, said they continue to provide young women with HPV shots while encouraging all women to have an annual pap test.
Public Health, he said, is working closely with community partners like the Commonwealth Cancer Coalition to increase accessibility in health care services among women.
He said Public Health and its community partners have, so far, provided HPV shots to over 1,400 young women and are now covering about 92 percent of girls in grades 11 to 12.
