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Reproductive health education urged amid rising cervical cancer cases among PH youth
Reproductive health should be included in the basic education curriculum as more cases of cervical cancer have been observed among young Filipino patients, a medical expert said Thursday.
Nelinda Catherine Pangilinan, Specialty Center head of Rizal Medical Center, said reproductive health not only deals with sexual intercourse, but also how to take care of oneself.
"What we want is to have an education campaign or a curriculum to include how to take care of oneself, and at the same time, sexual reproduction or reproductive health that should be incorporated already in the curriculum," Pangilinan told reporters.
She said Filipino patients as young as 20 years old have been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Some of the patients were found to have enagaged in sexual intercourse as young as 14 years old and have had three or more sexual partners.
"I do not know if it might be in the trend right now, or the value of sex is just part of a common activity," Pangilinan said, adding that cervical cancer is usually diagnosis to patients 30 years old and above.
According to the United States National Cancer Institute, cervical cancer develops when abnormal cells appear in the cervical tissues and were not destroyed or removed.
It is caused by long-lasting human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
Pangilinan urged the public to get regular human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HPV screening, as well as pap smear to monitor their reproductive health.
Ovarian cancer detection
Regular screening also helps women detect if they have ovarian cancer, which is a disease where abnormal cells that grow tumors are found in the ovaries, fallopian tubes, or abdominal lining.
"Wala kasi siyang symptoms, mararamdaman mo na lang, lumaki ang tiyan. And usually, 'pag lumaki ang tiyan, that's already a late stage," Pangilinan said.
(Ovarian cancer has no symptoms. A patient's tummy will just get big. And usually, once the tummy gets big, that's alredy a late stage.)
"For ovarian [cancer], it is not secondary to sexual activity... Usually it's [due to] genetics when they usually have it at a younger age. But it is usually seen in a reproductive age group," she added.
Due to available ultrasound procedures in many hospitals, ovarian cancer diagnosis has become easier, Pangilinan said.
"We diagnose early, nata-track (We are able to track). That's why we get 9 years old, 4 years old, female or girls who have this ovarian cyst or ovarian malignancy," she added
For Pangilinan, the detected young age group is alarming so Rizal Medical Center is also pushing for a regular nuttritional conseling.
"In every government, our nutrition and dietetics, they have a schedule, they reschedule for nutritional counseling for prevention," she said. — VDV, GMA News
