EPISODE 11 - Cervical Cancer

Nomzamo Jompolo lives in an RDP house on a hillside in Ngqaza village near East London. She is confident and cheerful as she relates how she tested HIV positive in 2001 and is clearly someone who has conquered fear through information and positive living. She decided to test when she developed an STI. At the time she knew very little and relates how she never finished her treatment and also shared it with her partner.  It was only later when she came to understand how treatment works that she recognized the importance of not sharing medication and completing the course. She then developed warts which tested positive for the Human Papilloma Virus or HPV.  HPV is one of the most common of all STIs with over 40 strains of this single virus.  It is very widespread and is often seen as warts which can be easily removed.

Dr Murishe Ledwaba of the Park Lane Clinic in Hillbrow, Gauteng explains that HPV is the virus that can lead to cervical cancer. The big thing to realize about this is that cervical cancer can be prevented if the little lesions which appear in the cervix are removed. This is a simple and painless procedure. To see if there are lesions one has to have a pap smear.  Nomzamo is emphatic that women living with HIV should get a pap smear to check for HPV every year.

Sister Thandiwe Booi at the Student Health Centre at the Walter Sisulu University explains that women living with HIV should have a pap smear every year. HPV is sexually transmitted and it can be passed on by vaginal, oral or anal sex.  Because their immune systems are weakened the virus can quickly cause cancer to develop. In the event of the pap smear being positive, the lesion can be treated and the danger of cervical cancer avoided. At the same time any genital warts can be removed and discharges treated.

There is understandable sensitivity about having a pap smear, but Zona Mpendulo, a Siyayinqoba Beat It! Community Journalist, doesn't hesitate to ask Sister Booi for a pap smear now that she knows the importance of the procedure.  It's really not such a big deal - it's more the thought of it that is daunting and of course it needs to be sensitively done and women need to have the procedure properly explained so they understand what is happening and why it is necessary.

Dr Ledwaba has good news for Nobantu Khumalo, our Siyayinqoba Beat It!  Gauteng Community Journalist - there is now a vaccine that can prevent HPV infection. The problem is it is expensive. One make, Gardacil, costs about R3000 for the three injections while the other, Ceverix, comes to about R1800. For this reason HPV vaccines are not yet available in the public sector.  Young women should be vaccinated against HPV between 12 and 16 years of age to prevent infection with the most common strains of HPV, but it's still worth getting vaccinated even if it's done later says Dr. Ledwaba.  The cost of the vaccine has to be weighed against the cost of treating cervical cancer - which is much higher.