The cervical cancer can be completely controlled if all the adolescent girls between 9 to 14 years are vaccinated.
The director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, Ravi Kant has said that lack of awareness is one of the main reasons for high incidence of cervical cancer in India. He said that the cervical cancer can be completely controlled if all the adolescent girls between 9 to 14 years are vaccinated. The AIIMS director said that the women can be vaccinated for the prevention of cervical cancer up to the age of 26 years but vaccination of girls below 14 years has much better efficacy. He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) has set a target of vaccination of 90 percent of adolescent girls by the year 2030 globally and recent studies have shown that even one dose of vaccination may be sufficient in young girls.
The Gynaecologic Oncologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, AIIMS Rishikesh, Shalini Rajaram said that about one lakh cases of cervix cancer occur every year in India. She said that for awareness of cervical cancer awareness amongst women in Uttarakhand, a public awareness campaign is being launched by AIIMS Rishikesh. On Tuesday a webinar would be organised on the subject. Rajaram added that the objective of the campaign is to bring about awareness that vaccination, screening of women above 30 years and treatment of all women detected with cancer will help achieve cervical cancer free India by 2030. The WHO – International Agency for Research in Cancer (WHO-IARC), expert on cancer control and prevention, Dr. R Sankaranarayanan would deliver keynote address in the webinar which would be attended by director NHM, Dr Anjali Nauriyal and Director of National Programme, Medical Health and Family Welfare Uttarakhand, Dr Saroj Nathani. Rajaram informed that AIIMS -Rishikesh along with WHO experts and government officials from the state will formulate a policy for elimination of cervical cancer in the state of Uttarakhand.
Tuesday, 17 November 2020 | PNS | Dehradun
