PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur—At least 12 Filipino women succumb to cervical cancer every day, a Department of Health official said here on Tuesday.
Dr. Guadalupe T. Ramiso told local stakeholders during a meeting on Human Papilloma Virus at Mardale Hotel here that some 6,000 Filipino females “are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually and 4,396 of them die from the ailment during the period.”
Ramiso noted that a recent DoH survey showed the disease ranks second to breast cancer which affects women of 14-45 years old, adding that “practically all cervical cancers are caused by some type of HPV infection which usually affects women in their 40s to 50s and seldom those below 30.
She cited a United States Centers for Diseases Control study which reported that “women will get at least one HPV infection in their lifetime and 75 percent of invasive cervical cancers are attributed to the so-called HPVs 16 or 18 types that account for more than 10 percent of cervical cancers worldwide.”
The DoH official further noted that the agency’s 2013 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality survey revealed that 1 to 3 Filipino youth engage in pre-marital sex with the males outnumbering the females, although “some females as young as 15 years old have begun childbearing.”
Ramiso told her listeners that the Health Department continues to conduct a nationwide HPV vaccination for all Grade 4 girl pupils in priority provinces, including Zamboanga del Sur in Region 9, stressing that the vaccination, to be held in city or municipal health centers, is effective when given during childhood or adolescent “before sexual debut when HPV infection is still nil and the girls’ immune system is at its strongest to mount a robust response to the vaccine.”