BY SETHABILE MYENI
MBABANE – The National Cancer Control Unit (NCCU) has announced that Eswatini has proper machines and medication to screen and treat cervical cancer.
This was disclosed by the Director of NCCU Colisile Dlamini, this morning on letishisako program on EBIS.
She said this in commemoration of the cervical cancer awareness month, January under the theme ‘Learn, Prevent and Screen Cervical Cancer’.
Dlamini also mentioned that regardless of the high number of cervical cancer cases in Eswatini, it can still be prevented.
“Cervical cancer can be prevented and it can also be cured when detected early hence we introduced the HPV vaccination for girls between nine and 14 years of age. Eswatini has the highest number of cervical cancer cases and this was caused by the fact that we did not have the machines to screen it and also treat it but now we do,” she said.
She also mentioned that 90 percent of the women with cervical cancer are also HIV positive which show the relationship between the two diseases.
According to the World Health Organisation website, in 2020 there were 604 000 women that were diagonised with cervical cancer and 342 000 died and most of the women are from middle-income countries.
“WHO’s Member States should strive to meet the following interim scale-up targets by 2030; 90 percent of girls are fully vaccinated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine by 15 years of age, 70 percent of women are screened using a high-performance test by 35 years of age and again by 45 years of age, 90 percent of women with pre-cancer are treated, and 90 percent of women with invasive cancer are managed,” reads the website.
