9 Vietnam Women Daily Die of Cervical Cancer: Report

Cervical cancer is killing nine Vietnamese women every day, according to reports of a conference which was co-organized by the Institute for Reproductive and Family Health and the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation in Hanoi on Mar 18. Twenty out of every 100,000 Vietnamese women have the disease, and 11 of them could end up dying. One of the main reasons for the growing incidence of the disease is a lack of regular health check-ups. In addition, women living in remote areas tend to ignore the importance of this matter and do not even get vaccinated against the disease, which is largely lacking across Vietnam. Le Duc Tho, a doctor working at the German Agency for International Co-operation, said the agency has been implementing a program on fostering local medical units in five provinces of Vietnam from 2009 until 2017. The program, besides providing health care services, will also provide screening for cervical cancer for women in these five provinces. (VietnamPlus Mar 18, An Ninh Thu Do - Capital Security Mar 19 p8)