Chronicle Editor
Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu , Senior Health Reporter
ZIMBABWE is one of the five countries with the highest cervical cancer burden in Africa with reports that women living with HIV are at a higher risk of developing persistent human papilloma virus (HPV) infection.
A recently released United Nations Aids report shows that 85 percent of women with cervical cancer live in sub-Saharan Africa.
One can suffer from cervical cancer through long-lasting HPV infection as the virus is spread from person to person during sex, air pollution, ultra violet radiation, obesity, genetic disorders, lack of physical activity, alcohol use, use of tobacco and cigarettes as well as unhealthy diet without vegetable or fruit intake.
Most common symptoms are irregular vaginal bleeding, sometimes between menstrual periods or after sex, back or pelvic pain, unusual vaginal discharge.
Women from 20 years of age and above are usually at high risk of cervical cancer infection hence health experts encourage regular screening through Pap smear or HPV tests.
Cervical cancer ranks as one of the most common female cancers in women between 15 and 44 in Zimbabwe, accounting for 25 percent of all cancer cases and is one of the leading causes of death in Zimbabwean women, accounting for 23 percent of cancer related deaths.
“An estimated 85 percent of women with cervical cancer live in sub-Saharan Africa, where the proportion of women living with HIV among people with cervical cancer exceeded 40 percent in nine countries, underscoring the link between HIV and cervical cancer burden in the region. Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe accounted for about half of all women living with HIV who developed cervical cancer in 2018,” said UNAIDS.
“Women living with HIV are at high risk of persistent HPV infection: they have a sixfold higher risk of developing invasive cervical cancer, which develops twice as fast for women with untreated HIV infection, and they are more likely than women without HIV to die of cervical cancer, even when receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV.”
The report stated that countries were to implement the Global AIDS Strategy 2021–2026 including population-specific targets to be reached by 2025.
These targets include 90 percent of women living with HIV having access to integrated or linked services for HIV treatment and cervical cancer.
“One of the targets includes ensuring that 90 percent of school aged girls nine to 14 in priority countries have access to HPV vaccination. This also includes ensuring that young women and girls have access to sexual and reproductive health services that integrate HIV services and include HPV, cervical cancer and STI screening and treatment, among other services,” it said. — @thamamoe
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