Pakistan's fight against gynaecological cancers sees new initiative

Doctors and female health visitors in Pakistan have been receiving training for a new initiative aimed at improving Pakistani women's health and identifying cases of cervical cancer.

With the help of international development agency UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), the Maternal and Child Health Centre (MCH) in Pakistan has launched an initiative for cervical cancer screening, reported The News International.

The project which started in Islamabad as well as three rural regions in the country saw medical professionals attend a three-day training workshop teaching them the skills required for Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA).

Cervical cancer accounts for 27 per cent of cancer cases in Pakistan's women and is the second highest gynaecological problem faced by the country, claims The News International.

The WHO claim that 80 per cent of the world's 500,000 new cervical cancer cases identified each year occur in developing nations such as Pakistan.

Following the recent floods in Pakistan the UNFPA has rushed medical supplies to the country to help maternal and newborn health as well as the general health and hygiene of those displaced by the monsoon waters.

Click here to access contact details for FIGO's member society in Pakistan. 

Posted by Alexandra George