Health units reinforce cervical cancer prevention in ‘Lilac March’

Manaus (AM) – The ‘Lilac March’ agenda has been working to raise awareness among the population about preventing and combating cervical cancer this month. Starting this Wednesday (6), at 9 am, teams from the Municipal Health Department (Semsa) will be promoting health education actions in basic network units, and intensifying the provision of screening and early diagnosis services for users .

The ‘Lilac March’ will be officially opened at the Family Health Unit (USF) Benedito Batista de Almeida, in the São Francisco neighborhood, South Zone of the capital of Amazonas, with the presence of the municipal secretary of Health, Shádia Fraxe. The purpose of the mobilization, according to the manager, is to give visibility to the fight against cervical cancer and encourage care among women.

“We want to reinforce the role of self-care in health, emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis of cervical cancer, which is preventable in 99% of cases. If you identify it early on, you can avoid a more serious injury or even death later on,”

points out Shádia Fraxe.

As part of the campaign, basic network units will intensify the collection of cytopathological or preventive examinations, recommended for women aged 25 to 64, and vaccination of girls and boys aged 9 to 14 against the human papillomavirus (HPV). ). In communities, the active search for users eligible for screening or lacking health monitoring will be reinforced.

Actions in the units also include offering medical and nursing consultations for breast examinations, requesting mammograms and rapid tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), distributing condoms and other services. Health professionals will also inform and guide the public about the prevention of cervical cancer, with lectures, conversation circles, distribution of printed material, among other health education actions.

Programming on the basic network includes ‘D-Day of the Lilac March’, with editions on Saturdays, at Semsa’s Saúde na Hora Units and Women’s Mobile Health Units. The activities begin in the units of the East Health District (Disa), on the 9th; continuing with the Disa Norte units, on the 16th; and ending with Disas Oeste and Sul, on the 23rd.

Attention and welcome

Outside of the ‘Lilac March’ programming, services and procedures for screening and early diagnosis of cervical cancer are made available to users of the Unified Health System (SUS) in the municipal basic network on a permanent basis, as highlighted by the head of the Division of Women’s Health Care, Lúcia Freitas.

“At any time of year, women can go to a basic unit to take a preventive exam. We have units open from morning until night during the week, some also on Saturdays, and even on Sundays, at the Carmen Nicolau clinic, in the North Zone”, she lists.

Lúcia explains that women in the indicated age group should initially take preventative care annually, for two years in a row. If the results are normal in both tests, the exam can be carried out every three years. She points out the role of families and society in reinforcing women’s adherence to the exam.

“It is very important that families and the community encourage women to take preventive measures, as well as seek evaluation and follow-up with a health professional, for the necessary guidance and referrals”,

observes Lúcia Freitas.

Prevention and screening

Cervical cancer, also called cervical cancer, is the malignant tumor with the highest incidence among the female population in Manaus, and the third in Brazil. For the year 2023, the National Cancer Institute (Inca) estimated 420 new cases in the municipality.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is considered the main causative agent of malignant tumors. Screening is done through preventive exams to detect the pre-cancerous stages of the disease, which can take up to 10 years to manifest after infection with the virus.

The prevention of uterine cancer includes vaccination against HPV among children and adolescents of both sexes, in the age group of 9 to 14 years, and also preventive examination, indicated for women aged 25 to 64 years, as a priority, and taken as a safer and more effective method to detect precursor lesions of neoplasia.

*With information from consultancy

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