Pedal pushing for cervical cancer awareness

MANILA, Philippines - Although it’s a long shot that I will gain enough confidence to bike on a major thoroughfare, I have again taken up biking as my particular form of exercise. My dream goal is to hone up the road skills and gather the gumption in time to participate in this year’s “The Tour of Hope,” a Cancer Institute Foundation, Inc., Bravehearts, and GlaxoSmith Kline-supported biking tour whose goal is to promote cervical cancer prevention awareness in the Philippines.

Cervical cancer ranks second as the most common form of cancer afflicting women worldwide. Surveys show that half a million new cases are diagnosed yearly, with 250,000 reported deaths from the disease. Of these, over 80 percent of cases occur in developing countries like the Philippines where greater than half of the women with cervical cancer will die within five years after diagnosis. They say that 12 Filipinas succumb to cervical cancer every day. One other scary thing about it is that cervical cancer does not manifest signs or symptoms in the early stages of the disease.

Precisely because the disease is quite common, I, too, have had a poignant encounter with it. One of my mom’s best friends was felled by the disease. We were little girls at the time, and the diagnosis was both titillating and shocking to my sisters and me because as far as we knew, that family friend was a chaste and celibate woman who taught us the Bible. Did she live a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sex life?

We know better now. Human Papilloma Virus or HPV types 16 and 28 are the primary cause of cervical cancer, and can easily be transmitted through skin-to-skin contact. This means that penetrative intercourse is not necessary to become infected. While our bodies get rid of most HPV types naturally, persistent infection of cancer-causing HPV can develop into precancerous lesions and eventually, cervical cancer. The risk of persistent HPV infection increases with age so that the older a woman gets, the higher her risk of persistent HPV, or an infection that does not resolve on its own.

For Cervical Cancer Prevention Network Program director Dr. Cecilia Llave, the best prevention against the disease is vaccination. That, plus a simple Pap smear screening test can save lives. Although yearly Pap smear testing should begin within three years after first sexual intercourse or by age 21, an ASO4 adjuvanted vaccine is most effective when given to girls before their first sexual encounter.

Is the vaccine safe? Definitely. Studies show that the vaccine is safe and causes no serious side effects. The most common complaint, in fact, is soreness at the injection site. In addition, getting the vaccine at a younger age is an advantage because the immune system will respond to the vaccine better and redound to longer protection.

To increase public knowledge and cervical cancer protection, a lay forum is scheduled at every stop of this year’s Tour of Hope cycling event that is headed for northern Luzon.

“This year, we’re targeting to conduct talks in Clark, Tarlac, Dagupan, La Union, and Baguio,” says biker Joyett Jopson. “We plan to reach out to as many people and impart that a healthy lifestyle, early screening, and effective cervical vaccination are the best hedges for prevention of the disease.”

To be fit enough to cycle to Baguio and promote cervical cancer prevention awareness besides would be great. But a village biking partner and I recently assessed our equally mediocre cycling skills and have accepted that it will be impossible to traverse EDSA without panicking. But perhaps, we can still participate in one of those less-travelled provincial stretches. After all, a bonus for bikers is you get your photograph taken by ace lensman Jun de Leon. Sigh, apart from being lousy bikers, we can be shallow, too!

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To know more about cervical cancer, visit www.Xoutcervicalcancer.com.ph.