Some of the MVIL female staff at the awareness session.

Cervical cancer is now the leading type of cancer affecting women followed by breast cancer, says Outreach Desk Facilitator Sister Helen Hukula during a presentation to female staff of Motor Vehicles Insurance Limited (MVIL).

The Outreach Desk, a non-government organization, did an awareness presentation on women’s health and cervical cancer screening to the female staff at the MVIL Head Office in Port Moresby in September.

Sr. Hukula stressed that cervical cancer was now the leading type of cancer affecting women followed by breast cancer in Papua New Guinea.

The awareness was to inform the female staff of the types of screening services available to detect the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which causes not only cervical cancer but other forms of cancer including cancer of the uterus, ovaries, genitals, mouth, tongue, voice box and other parts of the body.

Cervical cancer could spread through HPV by having multiple sex partners or could be hereditary, Sr. Hukula said, and encouraged the female staff to go for HPV screening either by doing a Pap Smear Test or HPV Antigen Testing.

She explained that the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, is available for girls aged 9-26 years while women aged 26 to 47 can be vaccinated, as long as they test negative to having HPV strains.

Cervical cancer is curable in the first and second stages but not the third and fourth stages, so it was strongly recommended during the presentation that female staff should be tested for HPV.

“Screening saves lives. Cervical cancer is a silent killer. Know your status so you can get treated early if you are found to have HPV,” Sr. Hukula said.