Georgetown : Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud and Chairperson, Children, Women, Gender Equality Commission Indra Chandarpal joined students of the Guyana School of Nursing and members of civil society at a candle light vigil last evening on the lawns of Parliament building to bring awareness to the scourge of cervical cancer.
The event was organised by the Health Ministry as part of its Cervical Awareness month of activities. January was designated such a Month worldwide.
This year’s theme was “Early Detection Saves Lives and this message set the tone for the speakers who briefly addressed the gathering.
Prime Minister Hinds spoke of the investment that government has been making in the area of health for its people, and how this has translated into cancer prevention and cure.
Minister Ramsaran said, “This activity is geared not only at lighting the candle to remember who we lost, but lighting a candle to show that life goes on, and that there is a shining example of what we can do in the future what we can achieve with this sacrifice, with the study developed with academia like Visual Inspection Using Acetic Acid (VIA).
VIA is basically the use of table acid which when applied to the cervix causes a reaction that enables the medical personnel to carry out the diagnostics when viewing the cervix. The use of the VIA method has proven over time to be cost effective, timely and convenient in that the service can be taken to the people instead of the people going to the health facility.
Minister Ramsaran said that cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths among Guyanese women, followed by breast cancer.
In January alone 413 women took the VIA test at the GPHC.
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