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Pennsylvania’s Challenge to Eliminate Cervical Cancer
Op-ed by State Senator Jane Clare Orie (R-Allegheny)
Cervical cancer is one of the only preventable
women’s cancers. We now know a common virus -- the human papillomavirus, or HPV
-- causes it, and with regular and accurate screening, no woman should die of
this disease. However, a new national report shows that Pennsylvania has a long
way to go to ensure that no women die unnecessarily.
In A Call to Action: the “State of Cervical Cancer
Prevention in America” issued this month by Women in Government, Pennsylvania
scored only 44 percent out of a possible score of 100 percent. While no state
received a score higher than 75 percent, clearly, we have an opportunity to do
more.
The report reveals that too many women in
Pennsylvania remain unscreened or underscreened, and our state-funded screening
programs rely on the Pap test alone, while new FDA-approved technology -- HPV
testing -- is available and can better identify women needing early
intervention. Such advances in preventive technology give us the tools we need
to help eliminate this major malignancy -- and we must use them.
Cervical cancer rates have decreased significantly
over the last 60 years, due to widespread screening using the traditional Pap
smear. However, according to the American Cancer Society, more than 10,500
women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year, and approximately 3,900
women will die.
Yet, this gynecologic cancer is nearly 100 percent
preventable. It is a slow-developing disease that can usually be treated easily
before abnormal cells develop into cancer. So why are thousands of women still
dying? There are two key barriers to better detection and prevention.
First, cervical cancer disproportionately affects
minority women and those with lower incomes because they are less likely to have
access to routine screening. Approximately half of all cervical cancer cases
are in women who have never been screened, and 10 percent are in women who
haven’t been screened in the last five years.
Second, in women who are screened periodically,
studies show that the Pap smear’s ability to identify women needing early
intervention to stop the disease ranges between 51 percent and 85 percent. Now,
however, a test for high-risk types of HPV -- the culprit behind almost all
cervical cancers -- is available. By administering the HPV at the same time as
the Pap test in women 30 and older (when the risk of cervical cancer is
highest), we can detect increases in abnormal cells to almost 100 percent.
But having advanced technology is not enough. Every
woman -- no matter what her socioeconomic status -- must be informed about the
need for regular screening and have access to the most up-to-date screening
technologies. To accomplish this, I have recently introduced legislation to
help ensure that no woman in Pennsylvania dies of cervical cancer.
I will sponsor three measures:
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A cervical cancer awareness resolution to draw
attention of women, health care providers, and policy makers to the risks
and the potential for prevention and treatment that will totally eliminate
cervical cancer.
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A bill to require the use of both the Pap smear
and human papillomavirus test approved by the FDA when screening patients.
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A bill to provide state assistance for cervical
cancer screening.
My efforts in Pennsylvania are part of the national
campaign known as the Challenge to Eliminate Cervical Cancer. Launched by Women
in Government, which represents state-level women elected officials, this
campaign is designed to help reduce the number of women who die each year of
this highly preventable disease.
I urge my colleagues in the General Assembly to pass
these bills and for public health officials, advocates and others to renew their
efforts to prevent cervical cancer so that no more families in Pennsylvania lose
a mother, daughter or sister to this preventable disease. With action, cervical
cancer can be the first cancer we eliminate.
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