Cervical cancer diagnoses expected to add 17,000 by 2025

Cervical cancer was responsible for 6,627 deaths in Brazil in 2020. The Ministry of Health estimates that, from 2023 to 2025, around 17,000 women will be diagnosed with the tumor, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). This virus is easily transmitted in sexual intercourse; that’s because just contact with infected skin is enough for contamination. “It is estimated that around 70% to 80% of the population, in general, has already had some contact with the virus. There are countless types of viruses, over 50 different types of virus strains and not all of them will cause cancer. There are some that only cause warts and others that won’t manifest at all”, explains gynecologist Charbele Diniz. The Green-Dark July Campaign draws attention to the importance of preventive exams and early diagnosis of so-called gynecological cancers – those that affect one or more organs of the female reproductive system. The most frequent occurrences of this type of cancer in Brazil are tumors in the cervix, in the body of the uterus and in the ovary. WHO guidelines According to the National Cancer Institute (Inca), it is possible, in the future, to eradicate malignant tumors in the cervix in Brazil. For this, it is necessary that the population follow the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Women between 25 and 35 years old should undergo preventive exams and patients who are diagnosed with alterations should receive the correct treatment. Girls and boys between 9 and 14 years of age should be vaccinated against HPV. To increase immunization, the vaccine is ideally taken before the first sexual intercourse. Since 2014, the government has made available the quadrivalent vaccine against HPV. Today, girls and boys between 9 and 14 years old can receive immunization in the Unified Health System. In addition to teenagers, immunosuppressed people up to 45 years old can also be vaccinated in the public network. Despite the vaccine being available free of charge, many parents do not take their teenagers to be vaccinated due to a false belief that it will encourage early sexual initiation. “We have the vaccine available, it is an expensive vaccine, it is a vaccine that is there, but that is not being used. There are several taboos, for the Brazilian people to think that you are exposing the sexual issue to your teenage daughter. But it is more of a common vaccine like any other”, explains the head of the Oncological Gynecology Department at the National Cancer Institute (Inca), Gustavo Guitmann. Psychologist Andreia Medeiros works with teenagers and has a 15-year-old daughter, student Sofia van Chaijk, who took the HPV vaccine, guided by her mother. “It’s a myth [a ideia] that will stimulate [a iniciação sexual precoce]. Not talking about the subject will prevent it? It is the opposite”, says the psychologist. “Being aware of the benefits, of this prevention and the opposite too, of the risk they run, is a form of care”, she adds. “I also thank my mother for vaccinating me against HPV because we know someone who unfortunately died of uterine cancer due to HPV. So she didn’t even have to convince me much either. She already knew the consequences”, completes Sofia.

Agência Brasil