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Advocate for Cervical Cancer Awareness

There are many cancers, and months noting them, and Comprehensive Cancer Centers honors those fighting diseases twelve months of the year.  With these months honoring cancers, people often don’t know how to participate. But getting more involved helps reduce risks and empowers taking charge of treatment, should someone, or a loved one, have a disease like cancer.

The United States Congress designated January as Cervical Health Awareness Month, which helps the team at Comprehensive educate our audiences about the disease. Cervical Cancer is a challenging cancer, which more than 14,000 women in the United States diagnosed each year. The good news is that the disease is a cancer that’s preventable with vaccination and can be treated successfully with timely screenings, if diagnosed.

Given that the cancer is preventable and can be safely treated if diagnosed early, it’s a great idea to get as involved as possible in months, such as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, with plenty of options for actions to help out.

What Can You Do During Cervical Cancer Awareness Month?

There are many ways to get active with education and awareness that don’t take a lot of time or require many resources. You can start by contacting local media here in Southern Nevada to encourage them to include coverage of Cervical Health Awareness Month. What makes taking this step easy, is that the National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) and the American Sexual Health Association (ASHA) have a press release you can download, customize and send out.

For those interested in official public advocacy, the NCCC and ASHA teamed up to create a downloadable proclamation you can send to local elected officials encouraging them to publicly recognize Cervical Health Awareness Month.  The organizations also have created resource to download, display for Cervical Cancer Awareness Month. They can be shared perhaps in your office breakroom, on a community center billboard or through your favorite social media channels.

Get Your HPV Vaccination or Encourages Others to Get Theirs

Comprehensive Cancer Centers encourages everyone to work with their personal physicians to get all of their necessary vaccinations to reduce health risks. For those with cancer, this could include a flu shot to avoid risks from a bad case of the flu. For those without cancers, vaccinations like the HPV shot are important in helping prevent infection from high-risk HPV types that can lead to cervical cancer, as well as low risk types of HPV that cause genital warts. The CDC recommends boys and girls get the HPV vaccine at age 11 or 12 since the vaccine produces stronger immune responses when taken during preteen years. For this reason, up until age 14, only two doses are the vaccine are required. The vaccine is available for all males and females through age 45 but, for those 15 and older, a full three-dose series is required.

Get Testing Done During Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Another focus area for Comprehensive during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month is ensuring everyone follows guidance for screenings based on their ages and personal health histories. Screenings reduce risks and ensure early diagnoses, which can lead to better treatment outcomes. This recommendation during Cervical Cancer Awareness Month extends to encouraging women to get regular Pap tests to find cell changes to the cervix that can be caused by HPV. These tests help doctors find the virus and determine women are at highest risk for cervical cancer. These tests are recommended for women age of 30+, and as with all screenings, consult your personal physician to develop a plan customized for your needs.

Take Part in a Clinical Research for Cervical Cancer

If you have cervical cancer and are under the care of a physician who is not getting results using traditional treatment methods, you may benefit from a second opinion consultation from the team at Comprehensive. Depending on your diagnosis, the team may recommend participation in a clinical research study for cervical cancer.  Comprehensive Cancer has approximately 170 clinical research studies ongoing currently.

What Else Can You Do During Cervical Cancer Awareness Month?

If you’re still interested in other options, NCCC and the ASHA also offer a range of resources to educate the public and healthcare providers about cervical health, from fact sheets to episodes of ASHA’s Sex+Health podcast which educate and inform.

Comprehensive Cancer Centers Can Help

Physicians at Comprehensive Cancer Centers provide a variety of treatment options for cervical cancer including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and clinical research for the treatment of cancer.  To schedule an appointment at Comprehensive, call 702-952-3350.

 

The content is this post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

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