Cervical Cancer Killing 9 Vietnamese Women Daily: Report

At a conference held in Hanoi on March 18 to raise awareness about cervical cancer, it was revealed that nine women are dying every day in Vietnam because of the disease. Reports at the conference, which was co-organized by the Institute for Reproductive and Family Health and the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation, also revealed that 20 out of every 100,000 Vietnamese women have the disease, and 11 of them could end up dying. One of the main reasons for the growing incidence of the disease is a lack of regular health check-ups. Besides, women living in remote areas tend to ignore the importance of this matter and do not even get vaccinated against the disease, which is largely lacking across Vietnam. “Cervical cancer is a disease that has stolen the lives of many Vietnamese women,” said Nguyen Viet Tien, Deputy Minister of Health. Le Duc Tho, a doctor working at the German Agency for International Co-operation, said the agency has been implementing a program on fostering local medical units in five provinces of Vietnam from 2009 until 2017. The program, besides providing health care services, will also provide screening for cervical cancer for women in these five provinces. (Vietnam News March 18)