PHILIPSBURG–KeLaHa Projects launched a cervical cancer e-petition on Tuesday, urging Heads of Government in the Caribbean to increase women’s access to affordable cervical cancer screening.
The regional e-petition was launched around the Caribbean and is said to be the first e-petition of its kind in the region.
KeLaHa Projects founder and President Keoma Hamer, who launched the petition at a press conference at the Health Ministry, urges all St. Maarteners to support the call by signing the petition.
The launch was a collaborative effort of cervical cancer advocacy group KeLaHa, St. Maarten Cancer Foundation, Positive Foundation, Social and Health Insurance SZV, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC) and other cancer non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the Caribbean.
Persons can sign the petition by visiting Website
www.endcervicalcancernow.org , clicking on the link to e-sign the Cervical Cancer Petition and filling in the form.
Hamer said coordinators were aiming for at least 500,000 signatures from around the region and hopes a large portion of that number will be from St. Maarten.
“We kindly ask that you leave the sidelines and join us in the fight,” said Hamer. “Be an example, practise and please continue to support what we have been advocating for over these past months.”Hamer said approximately 31,700 women in Latin America and the Caribbean died from cervical cancer each year. The Caribbean is among the top four highest sub-regions in the world with respect to incidence of cervical cancer and has the highest burden of human papilloma virus (HPV) in the Americas. It is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among Caribbean women, yet more than 95 per cent of cases of cervical cancer are preventable.
Unfortunately, no statistics are available on cervical cancer in St. Maarten. However, Hamer said Pap smears could be done and some treatment was available in St. Maarten. She said too that government would be taking measures to collect data on this form of cancer.
Cervical cancer, Hamer said, does not have a face, as it is a form of cancer that is highly stigmatised and women don’t talk about it or reveal whether they have it. She said the stigma was linked to the fact that the cancer develops from the HPV virus, which is sexually transmitted.
She blamed ignorance and the lack of correct information for the stigma and said KeLaHa was doing its utmost to educate the community, women in particular, about cervical cancer in an effort to reduce and eventually eliminate the stigma.
Unnecessary deaths linked to cervical cancer can be prevented through increased screening and effective prevention and control measures, including Pap tests, HPV testing, vaccination against HPV and use of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA).
One of the simplest ways of controlling cervical cancer is the Pap test, yet in some countries only one in five women receive Pap tests, she said. Among those women diagnosed with cervical cancer, 50 per cent of them have never had a Pap test.
She said access to health care was a basic human right and urged the populace to support the e-petition.The petition is an initiative of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition, which hosted a Cervical Cancer Advocacy Capacity Building workshop in St. Maarten from March 21 to 22. Some 19 cancer NGOs representing 16 Caribbean countries united for that workshop.
The workshop led to the production of the draft cervical cancer e-petition, a draft of Organisational Advocacy Action Plans, an Advocacy Handbook and Planning Tool for Civil Society, a Social Media How-to Guide for Civil Society and a consensus on the establishment of a Caribbean Cancer Network.
HCC President Professor Trevor Hassell remarked that there never had been such a large number of united Caribbean cancer organisations, an achievement of which he is proud.
