BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — As the nation observes May as Cervical Cancer Consciousness Month, the Department of Health- Cordillera (DOH-CAR) shares that it is capacitating local health workers in administering the visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA).
The VIA involves the examination of the uterine cervix with the naked eye after the application of acetic acid, which provides simple tests for the early detection of cervical precancerous lesions.
Dr. Jimmy Billod of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center said the DOH capacitates the midwives and barangay health care workers in administering the VIA so that clients need not go to a hospital to undergo screening.
“Ti project ti DOH, agti-train iti midwives and barangay health care workers nga mang-examine iti visual inspection with acetic acid tapnu ma-capacitate mi dagitoy local health units tapnu uray han da nga kailangan nga mapan iti clinic or hospital, mabalin dan nga agpa-screen iti nearest barangay health units,” Billod said.
[There’s this project of DOH to train midwives and barangay health care workers to examine thru visual inspection with acetic acid, to capacitate these local health units, so that clients need not to go to a clinic or hospital and can undergo screening at the nearest barangay health units.]
Billod added that once the nurse or midwife has examined that the cervix of a client is abnormal, they can already provide treatment.
“Acetic acid laeng ti mai-apply, after one minute nu adda ti changes idjay (cervix), mabalin nga ag-provide dan iti treatment.”
[Acetic acid will be applied and after one minute, if there are changes in the cervix, they can already provide treatment.]
Billod also explained that before a client undergoes screening, she must not be having her menstruation and ideally, no sexual contact within 24 hours to 48 hours.
Cervix screening is one of the four pillars of preventing cervical cancer. The screening checks the health of the cervix and helps find any abnormal changes before they can turn into cancer.
The other pillars of preventing cervical cancer are a healthy lifestyle, vaccination, and the treatment of abnormal cells detected during the screening test, Billod said.
Proclamation No. 368, series of 2003 declared the month of May as Cervical Cancer Consciousness Month to raise awareness about the said disease, its causes, prevention, and early detection. (JDP/DEG-PIA CAR)
