Us Ex-Official Advocates Inexpensive Cervical Cancer Screening

Posted on: Thu 11-07-2013

Plans to bring Michelle Obama to Nigerian campaign reach advaned state

FORMER Director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Julie Louise Gerberding, has praised Nigeria's efforts at bringing the issues of cervical cancer to the forefront, but called for access to inexpensive early screening to enable early treatment.

Meanwhile, Nigeria is looking to using the influence of Gerberding to bring US First lady, Michelle Obama to Nigeria to boost the local cam- paign against cervical cancer, information from Ministry of Health has said.

Gerberding, who spoke at a visit to the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and laboratory Training Program (NFELTP in Ahuja yesterday, also pledged to support the nation's work in this area.

Gerberding, who is also the President of Merck Vaccines at Merck and Co. Incorporated in the US, emphasized that Nigeria, could actually eliminate cervical cancer.

Her words: "Now, it is possible to not only prevent cervical cancer through effective vaccination of girls but also to detect it early through screening methods that are very inexpensive and then if something suspicious is seen, very early treatment that is also incredibly inexpensive. So already in Nigeria, the screening and treatment capability is being demonstrated and It IS a remarkably a quality program, maybe the highest quality program I've seen m y travels II! Africa.

"There is a potential now in Nigeria as the vaccination opportunity evolves and the capacity to do. that Improves, as the screning clinics can scale and bnng more women into access that someday it Will be possible to think about a NIgeria where no woman has to die from cervical cancer. This country could be cervical cancer free. She hoped that the day when Nigeria would be talking about cervical cancer elimination would come soon, and stressed: "I promise you this: I will do everything in my personal power to try to be supportive of that."

According to her, "Prevention of cervical cancer is important because it is one the leading causes of cancer among women, particularly young women and the disease is worse when women

also have HIV infection. Cervical cancer is caused by HPV; the Human Papilloma Virus. It is acquired through exposure in people who are sexually active. If the virus persists, it eventually causes early stage pre cancer then early cancer, then devastating cancer. Unfortunately in Nigeria and other countries, most women are not diagnosed until the cancer is severe and there are very limited opportunities for treatment and relief.

"It is going to take a long time and you have to have all the legs of the chair. You have to have the vaccine. You have to have the screening. You have to have the treatment and you have to

have the leadership. I see Nigeria beginning to have the capacity to excel in all four of those areas. That is very exciting to me and as my President of Merck's Vaccine's r, I intend to do

everything I can and to help my company do everything it can to be relevant and useful to Nigeria as they approach this problem." Noting that national Centers for Disease Control was he single most important aspect of protecting health in a coun- try, she praised the Nigerian model for its growth and work.

Her words: "All over the world, I have seen lots of models but having strong national CDC is the most important thing and its thrilling to see the Nigerian CDC and the leadership here but it's even more impressive to see how quickly the Nigerian CDC has established the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (NFELTP). These programs exist in many places but what is unique there is the size of it and how fast it grew, the reach of it, the fact that every state is included and represented and third, the complexity, and the excellent science that is being

applied to work at not only infectious disease outbreaks but also chronic disease injuries and posonings so this already, just having onlyfour classes in the curriculum has created an enormous

infrastructure for publichealth in Nigeria.

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