‘Pink October’ and ‘Green October’ highlight the fight against female cancer and syphilis

Manaus (AM) – To raise awareness among society and strengthen prevention, diagnosis and treatment actions for breast cancer and cervical cancer, as well as the prevention and control of syphilis, Manaus City Hall officially opened “Pink October” and “Green October”, this Monday, (9), at the Family Health Unit (USF), Nilton Lins, located in the Flores neighborhood, in the Center-South zone of the capital.

The municipal undersecretary of Health Management, Djalma Coelho, who opened the campaigns, highlighted that “Pink October” is a global movement that aims to stimulate self-care and society’s involvement with women’s health, and explained that the “Green October” includes actions in the Primary Care Network to draw attention to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of syphilis, an ancient infectious disease that challenges public health around the world.

“These campaigns are very important to provide information to the population and intensify assistance to women, work that we routinely carry out in our units, but which will be reinforced in October. The City of Manaus, through Semsa, has made investments to expand the installed capacity of primary care and, thus, increasingly improve the offer of our services so that women have a quality of life”,

pointed out.

The “Pink October” program includes health education actions highlighting the factors that predispose women to breast cancer, and offering services such as clinical breast exams and requests for mammograms.

Ways to prevent cervical cancer, through the HPV vaccine in girls and boys aged 9 to 14 years old, the importance of the Pap smear, which allows the identification of precursor lesions to cancer, providing opportunities for treatment to be performed by increasing healing rates, are also emphasized in “Pink October” in Manaus.

The head of the Women’s Health Care Division, nurse Lúcia Freitas, noted that the campaign in the capital envisages coordinated and decentralized actions.

When evaluating advances in Women’s Health, Lúcia Freitas highlighted the three Mobile Women’s Health Units, in operation since July, and the USFs with different opening hours, with services ranging from 7am to 7pm and from 7am to 9pm.

“The Mobile Health Units, for example, travel to communities and neighborhoods where there are no health services and allow women who have difficulty moving around, who are caring for their young children and have other problems, to receive care. The same opportunity is offered to those who work. They can take their preventive exams and other exams at night and on Saturdays until noon. It’s inclusion work, which allows them to take care of themselves”,

accentuated.

Schedule

Since last Saturday (7), Semsa has been promoting “Pink October” D-Day in its Health Districts and also in mobile women’s health structures. Disa Leste was the first to offer a special program with clinical breast exams, requests for mammograms, cytopathological exams and health guidance actions focusing, for example, on the role of stress as a risk factor for the disease and the importance to incorporate physical activities and a balanced diet into your routine.

The West, South and North Disas units will be the next to develop a special program for the female population on Saturdays.

“Green October”

Held annually since 2016, the “Green October” campaign aims to raise awareness in society about the seriousness of syphilis on the health of men and women and, in particular, about the impact of congenital syphilis, when the mother passes the disease to the fetus or for the newborn. Diagnosis, followed by treatment to prevent the disease from being transmitted to the baby during pregnancy, is one of the campaign’s strategies.

The director of Epidemiological, Environmental, Zoonosis and Occupational Health Surveillance (Dvae), Marinélia Ferreira, highlighted the importance of integrated actions to prevent the infectious disease from compromising the development of children.

“This year we had around 205 cases of congenital syphilis, a disease that compromises the child’s development and this can be avoided if women, during prenatal care, take tests and undergo treatment appropriately. Our health units offer rapid tests to detect syphilis, HIV and viral hepatitis. By taking the test, the results of which come out in around 30 minutes, she will be able to start her treatment within the unit itself”,

highlighted.

The “Green October” actions, in addition to publicizing and offering rapid tests for STIs, will also be based on guidance on prenatal monitoring, forms of prevention, symptoms of the disease and the importance of using condoms during sexual relations.

*With information from consultancy

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