BULAWAYO medical practitioners gathered at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) where the Visual Inspection using Acetic Acid Programme (Viac) was launched yesterday.
LINDA CHINOBVA OWN CORRESPONDENT
Viac is a “see and treat” method which minimises delays and the number of visits between screening and treatment for cervical cancer.
In one visit, a woman is screened and if found to have minor lesion, this can be immediately treated using a technique known as cryotherapy.
“Zimbabwe faces a huge burden of non-communicable diseases, of which cervical cancer forms a very significant part,” Health minister David Parirenyatwa said.
He said it is estimated that cervical cancer is responsible for 33,4% of all cancer cases among women in Zimbabwe yet only 7% of these are screened.
It is also estimated that over 1 800 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the country and about 1 500 die from the disease each year.
“The Health and Child Care ministry has prioritised the scaling up of cervical cancer screening services, as articulated in the National Health Strategy in its endeavour to reduce morbidity and mortality due to cancer of the cervix, ” Parirenyatwa said.
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Every province in Zimbabwe has been equipped with a fully functional screening site manned by a team of specially trained healthcare professionals.
“A total of 76 healthcare professionals have been trained for the public and private sector. The trained personnel constitute a medical doctor-nurse team,” Gibson Mhlanga, principal director of preventive services in the Health ministry, said.
Mhlanga said with the rapid expansion of the programme, Masvingo Provincial Hospital has also become part of the national training centres for Viac.
The programme has started cascading to districts with the aim of covering most districts in the country by 2015.
Parirenyatwa urged every citizen to take the responsibility of reducing deaths from cervical cancer by taking part in the programme.
