Oncology & Radiology 2018- Cancer Awareness and Survival

Research Article

Wycliff TibairiraAwareness is

Abstract

Awareness is the knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. Cancer awareness is an effort to increase on the knowledge about cancer. Survival refers to the percentage of people in study treatment group who are still alive for a certain period of time after they were diagnosed with or started treatment for a disease (cancer) In 2012, an estimated 8.2 million people died from cancer worldwide and half of the death occurred in countries with low HDI. The objective of the cancer awareness and education program is to create awareness of the disease to help people recognize the early signs and symptoms of cancer thus enable them seek treatment at an early stage. Finding and treating cancer at an early stage can save lives. Cancer that’s diagnosed at an early stage, when it isn’t too large and hasn’t spread is more likely to be treated successfully. If cancer spreads, effective treatment becomes more difficult and generally a person’s chances of surviving are much lower. Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women in Uganda. There is also high prevalence of genital human papillomavirus infection, the unavailability of radiotherapy, plus the absence of a national cervical cancer prevention and control program, apparently cervical cancer is destined to have a more negative impact on the women in Uganda unless the problem is solved. Adequate financial resources, training man power and infrastructural development would be key to successful cancer screening and treatment. Combining screening efforts with timely treatment of all screen positives for HPV infection can prevent progression to invasive cervical cancer. This is the most effective intervention in closing the current prevention gap.Training health professionals, construction of new radio therapy bunkers are all geared towards improving Cervical Cancer care in Uganda. Screening, treatment and prevention of cervical precancers over the past 50 years use the PAP test to screen for early signs of the disease has helped reduce on Cervical Cancer death in developed countries Uganda like most developing lacks infrastructure and skilled personnel needed for a technician- dependent, multi-visit testing approach. Scarce health care resources in Uganda should aim at cost effective prevention strategies for which quality can be assured. WHO recommends triaging screening with HPV testing first, followed by VIA to identify women that can be treated immediately with Cryotherapy? Cervical cancer screening guidelines are based on “See and Treat” algorithm (Ministry of health strategic plan for cervical cancer prevention and control in Uganda 2010-2014). The target age group is women 25 to 49 years old. Women in Uganda are screened using VIA and those with positive findings and eligible precancerous lesions are treated using Cryotherapy. Screening occurs every 3 years for HIV-negative women and annually for HIV-positive women

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