Taipei, March 1 (CNA) thanks to a group of health heroes, Taiwan’s cervical cancer screening rate has continued to climb, directly contributing to the prevention of the disease which is the second most common form of cancer among Taiwanese women.
Taiwan’s crude cervical cancer screening rate reached 54 percent as of January, a substantial improvement over the 40 percent rate posted at the end of 2008, largely because of unsung heroes who have traveled all over the country to raise awareness of testing at the grassroots level.
They were recognized Monday at an award presentation ceremony organized by the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) in association with Procter & Gamble Taiwan, the first of its kind since the two entities launched the “Six Minutes Protects a Life” campaign in 1995 to build awareness of cervical cancer screening.
though Taiwan’s screening rate still lags behind that of the United States (80 percent) and the average in developed countries (63 percent), the rapid improvement can be traced to individuals like Dr. Chiu Yu-hua, a female physician at the public health center of Taoyuan County’s Jhongli City.
She has made house calls in rural parts of Taoyuan County over the past 10 years, giving pap smear tests to women who had never been tested for cervical cancer in their lives because they were shy about seeing a doctor.
Chiu received the DOH’s top award for having helped raise the pap smear test rate by 10 percent in Taoyuan County’s Sinwu Township, before she transferred to Jhongli City and helped its public health center run Taiwan’s most successful pap smear drive over the past eight years.
the Taoyuan Public Health Center in Kaohsiung County won an excellent Performace Award in recognition of its nurses traveling deep into the mountains to offer pap smear tests to female residents who had never been tested before and were resistant to the idea.
after being repeatedly rejected, the health center adopted a 3-2-1 strategy to improve its success rate, where a nurse first visits female residents three times to try and persuade them to take a pap smear test.
If the nurse fails, the head nurse will try another two times, and if the head nurse fails, the director of the health center will visit the woman in person.
the Beimen Public Health Center in Tainan County received an Innovation Award for its innovative approach to persuading women in the area who were poorly informed on cervical cancer pervention to receive pap smear tests.
also winning awards were the Taiwu Public Health Center in Pingtung County, the Yuanlin Public Health Center in Changhua County and the Gushan Public Health Center in Kaohsiung County.
Addressing the award presentation ceremony, DOH Minister Yaung Chih-liang offered the government’s appreciation to those health workers who have promoted the cervical cancer screening campaign and driven the screening rate to 54 percent in a short two years.
Yaung pointed out, however, that there are still some 1.3 million women aged over 30 in the country who rejected pap smear tests for assorted reasons.
“Our target this year is having 2 million women aged 30 to receive pap smear tests,” Yaung said.
the DOH in recent years has also pushed women under 30 years old to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as a means to prevent cervical cancer.
(By Chen Ching-fang and Deborah Kuo) enditem/ls
Health heroes help raise Taiwan’s cervical cancer screening rate
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