Press conference concerning the Eleventh Week of European Cervical Cancer Prevention

2017-01-24

The eleventh European Week of Cervical Cancer Prevention is beong held from January 22-28, 2017 in order to raise awareness among women about cervical cancer and ways of prevention. At the press conference, held for this occasion at the Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanović Batut"it was announced that in Serbia every year 1,244 new cases of women with cervical cancer are registered, while 480 women die from this malignant disease.

Secretary of State at the Ministry of Health prof. Dr. Berislav Vekic stressed that the Rules of immunization is in its final stage and that one of the new, recommended vaccines shall be a vaccine against HPV virus. The vaccine shall be given to boys and girls over 12, in health centers on a voluntary basis. Prof. Dr. Vekic stressed that vaccination will be part of primary prevention, while at the level of secondary prevention continue to work on screening programs.

There are about 40 different types of HPV that can infect the genital organs, and some of them can cause changes in the cervix that can develop into cancer, the director of the clinic of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Stefanovic emphasized, adding that timely detection of cancer can be prevented in 70 to 80 percent of cases, and thatEuropean countries, which have developed a good screening program reduced the rate of death from the disease.

The Acting Director of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia prim.dr Verica Jovanovic explained that the screening program on cervical cancer is currently being implemented in 18 municipalities in Serbia that include testing of women from 25 to 64 years of age,who have been invited for a quick and painless examination - Papanikolaou test. Within four years of the screening program, 140 women were confirmed with malignancy. "At the last years screening program, 76,000 women were examined, and cervical cancer was detected in 27 cases," explained prim dr. Verica Jovanović .

The frequency of incidence of cervical cancer in Serbia is about two times higher than the average values ​​recorded in Europe,  Assistant Director of the Institute of Public Health of Serbia PhD Darija Kisić Tepavčević  pointed out, and added that in our population of women death from cervical cancer uterus is approximately 3 times higher than the average values ​​recorded in Europe. The preservation of reproductive health of the population has been identified as an important factor in improving the national population policy, and concerning this matter, the Institute of Public Health of Serbia "Dr Milan Jovanović Batut" plans to implement public health activities aimed at raising awareness of the importance of preserving reproductive health.

From the press conference, a message was sent to all women that cervical cancer is a malignant disease that can be prevented if you visit your doctor and take advantage of some of the available measures of prevention.