85% of Internet users, after watching an educational film on medTvoiLokony, declared that they underwent a cytology as part of the campaign “No Polish woman has to die of cervical cancer”. According to specialists, the Internet can improve women’s awareness, which is not sufficient, because in terms of mortality and morbidity, Poland is in the infamous second place in Europe.
MedTvoiLokony together with the Polish Coalition to Fight Cervical Cancer conducts an awareness campaign “No Polish woman has to die of cervical cancer”. – Such actions are needed, because every day 5 women in our country die from this cancer – doctors say. – This is not only a drama of women, but of entire families – orphaned children, abandoned husbands. These tragedies could have been avoided – says prof. Jerzy Stelmachów national consultant in the field of oncological gynecology.
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Internet research
As part of the educational campaign, Internet users could take part in a survey consisting of a knowledge test and an educational film. In total, the survey was visited by over 100 people. Internet users, and it was filled to the end with almost 30 thousand. times. The ladies first answered the questions of how often and where they do Pap smear tests, how many sexual partners they have, whether they are faithful and whether they use condoms. They were then tested from general knowledge of cervical cancer, incl. They were asked if cervical cancer was hereditary, who was most at risk, how to reduce the risk of developing the disease, and what was a Pap test. Then they were given information on how often they should do the smear test and correct answers to the test questions. Those who declared that they had a Pap smear too infrequently or did not complete the test correctly could watch an educational video that included all the information about cervical cancer, Pap tests and HPV vaccination.
Cytology
As many as 60% of internet users declared that they had done a cytology in the last 12 months, and 33% not earlier than 3 years ago. – These data do not translate into the national results. The test was attended by women interested in their own health, and therefore more aware, experts believe. – In Poland, no official data on the number of collected cytologies is collected. According to a public opinion poll, the so-called According to the Siemens report, 58% of women declared that they were doing this test. However, I believe that this is an overestimated number, as shown by the mortality rates. As part of the preventive program carried out by the National Health Fund in 2011, 24,4% of women performed a pap smear. According to the estimates of the National Health Fund, approximately 38-39% of women undergo cytology under health insurance, says Dr. Jerzy Giermek, head of the Central Center for Coordination of Population Programs for Early Breast Cancer Detection and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Early Detection.
Cervical cancer threat
During the last year, the greatest number of women underwent cytology in the Wielkopolskie and Mazowieckie voivodships. Least in Opole and Lublin. Almost half of the respondents performed a cytology in a private office, paying for the examination. 1/3 did it as part of the free cytology program. Unfortunately, as many as 45% of women did not answer all the test questions correctly. Not everyone knew that the cause of cervical cancer is persistent infection with oncogenic variants of the human papillomavirus (HPV) and that every sexually active woman comes into contact with it at least once in her life. The lack of this knowledge may be the reason why less than 10% of Internet users who have multiple partners always use a condom, and as many as 48% of them never do. In addition, 38% of those who do not use condoms know that their partner is not faithful to them.
Cervical cancer prevention
Ladies who filled in the questionnaire incorrectly watched an educational film. As many as 85% of them declared their willingness to undergo a cytology after seeing it. – The fact that so many Internet users who have not performed cytology regularly declare that they have done it is an undoubted success of the campaign. If these tests could be successfully promoted, the disease of cervical cancer would practically cease to exist. It is completely curable in a pre-invasive state. And it can be detected thanks to regular smear tests – says Dr. Giermek. In his opinion, reporting to preventive programs is, unfortunately, still at the same, low level. Although we are catching up with Western Europe in many areas, we are not catching up with it in this respect. Without a radical change in policy on pap smear tests, I don’t think we will get to the level of the West. Some kind of administrative or economic constraint is necessary and, of course, the ongoing education of society. The latter actions will bear fruit in time – he explains. The educational video also presents a model method of cytology. – It is important because we want it to be performed at the European level – says Dr. Giermek. It is primarily about the correct collection of material for cytology – with appropriate European-certified brushes, not swabs. Women should only come to Pap smear where it is done correctly.
Educational survey prepared by Onet in cooperation with the Coalition for Fighting Cervical Cancer (http://koalicjarsm.pl/). Support the activities of the dinner, go to the website and vote: http://koalicjarsm.pl/wesparcie-nas.html