One death every two minutes attributed to cancer

Wednesday, February 05, 2014 - Karachi—Due to limited awareness, women in Pakistan suffer from many preventable ailments like Cervical Cancer which is entirely preventable through vaccination and screening, both of which are available in Pakistan.

According to WHO, one death every two minutes can be attributed to cervical cancer, making it the second leading cause of death worldwide amongst women after Breast Cancer. Approximately 80 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries such as Pakistan.

According to a study conducted by World Health Organization (WHO); in Pakistan, the incidence of cervical cancer in 2008 was 13.6 per 100,000 compared to less than 9 per 100,000 in 2002 which shows that the country is moving from low risk level to moderate risk level making it a danger zone where the young girls are more at risk than before.

Although, the incidence of cervical cancer in Pakistan is lower than that in neighbouring countries, yet Pakistan is one of the top ten countries in the world with the highest number of Cervical Cancer deaths accounting for an estimated 20 deaths per day. Continue.


Professor Iqbal Ahmad Memon, Professor of Pediatrics, Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition, said, “Pakistan has an increasing trend of cervical cancer cases which are normally diagnosed at advanced stages when a woman is in the prime of her life, taking care of her children and family.”

He added that cervical cancer does not show any sign and symptoms in the beginning so when it is diagnosed it is already very late. Therefore, it is better to get girls vaccinated after the age of 9 as it becomes very difficult to cure cancer once it crosses the threshold level.

Furthermore, the onset of cervical cancer would not only create deep trauma to both the woman and her family but also be unbearable in terms of the cost of treatment.

Dr Memon further added, “Prevention is always better than cure and since safe and efficacious vaccines are available in the market to prevent infection and provide protection against cervical cancer, girls and women have a right to get vaccinated against cervical cancer.” Vaccination along with screening can reduce the incidence of cervical cancer by 94% and the screening should be continued even after vaccination.

However, in developing countries like Pakistan, screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is not a common practice due to which exact estimates of the prevalence of cervical cancer in Pakistan are lacking.