As one of the most fatal forms of cancer in women, cervical cancer kills nine women in Vietnam every day, a seminar was told on Wednesday.

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This figure was provided in a report released at a seminar on enhancing awareness of cervical cancer in Vietnam held by the Institute for Reproductive and Family Health and the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation in Hanoi. It is estimated that 20 in 100,000 women in Vietnam suffer from cervical cancer and 11 of them will die of the disease, the report said. Every year Vietnam has more than 5,000 new cervical cancer patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cervical cancer is one of the deadliest – but most easily preventable – forms of cancer in women, responsible for more than 270,000 deaths annually, 85 percent of which occur in developing countries. In Vietnam as a whole, cervical cancer is the second most common cause of all cancer deaths in women, according to some reports unveiled at the Hanoi seminar.  Some other reports blamed the prevalence of cervical cancer in Vietnam on certain leading causes. One of these causes is that women in general have yet to be screened regularly for the disease. Another is the country has no system for early detection of cervical cancer through suitable and accessible tests.  Even when women are found to have pre-cancerous damage, they are still not given proper and effective treatment, experts said at the seminar.  Another reason is women in rural areas are still poorly aware of the importance of cervical cancer screening, resulting in small numbers screened for the signs of the disease.  In addition, vaccination against the disease has yet to be applied broadly in Vietnam. Speaking at the seminar, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien underscored that cervical cancer is one of the challenges confronting the health sector. Heath care institutions and other relevant agencies should make more effort to enhance the awareness of cancer prevention, he said. Cervical cancer is mostly caused by Human papillomavirus (HPV), which one can get by having sexual contact with someone who has it, according to the WHO. But there are many types of HPV and not all of them cause cervical cancer, the health organization said, adding that some of them trigger genital warts, while others may not bring on any symptoms. Symptoms of cervical cancer tend to appear only after the cancer has reached an advanced stage and may include irregular, intermenstrual (between periods) or abnormal vaginal bleeding after sexual intercourse; back, leg or pelvic pain; fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite; vaginal discomfort or odorous discharge; and a single swollen leg, according to the WHO. Getting regular Pap smears can help detect precancerous changes, which can be treated before they turn into cervical cancer, it advised.

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