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Perhaps one of the most important prevention topics discussed during theconference was presented by Juan C. Felix, M.D., professor of pathology andobstetrics and gynecology, Keck School of Medicine of the University ofSouthern California, in regards to the new HPV vaccines. When attendees wereasked during the beginning of the conference whether or not they would supporta national mandate for all girls entering middle school to get the HPVvaccine, a little more than 42 percent could agree. After listening to Dr.Felix, and receiving all the facts and information, the NCCC took a secondvote using a real-time computerized voting system and discovered more than 70percent now advocated mandating the vaccine for girls between the ages of 9and 13, as long as there was an "opt-out" offered to parents with objections.Of course, the attendees stressed that getting screened and having theirroutine PAP test, when coupled with an HPV test, is still the most effectiveearly detection method available to women.
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Additional HPV facts presented during the conference came from HeidiBauer, M.D. MPH, California Department of Public Health and of the CaliforniaSTD/HIV Prevention Training center included:
Attending the conference were women, their families and friends fromacross the United States, all of whom have been affected in some way by HPVand/or cervical cancer, whether survivors or those seeking additionalinformation. The main goal for the conference was to educate these women andprovide them with the tools and information they need to become advocates forHPV and cervical cancer prevention within their own communities.
Inspiring a sisterhood among attendees, the women also focused on thestigma attached to having this specific type of cancer, especially since it isrelated to a sexually transmitted infection. Many women were made to feelshamed or dirty when they were diagnosed with HPV, even though it is the mostcommon sexually transmitted infection. Many women addressed the fact that whenthey received their diagnosis of cervical cancer, they had never even heard ofHPV or were aware it caused cancer.
"Having cervical cancer does make others assume the worst about you. Thefact that the average person who is HPV positive has only had 2.1 sexualpartners shows this is can happen to anyone," said Shawna Dickey, a 33-year-old survivor of adenocarcinoma from Packwood, Iowa, who attended theconference. "The lack of awareness as to how many people have contracted HPVat some time in their life shows how little the public is informed. So manypeople have it and don't even realize they are carriers."
In the United States, cervical cancer is the second leading cause ofcancer related death in women between 20 and 39 years old. More than 14,000women in the U.S. are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and more than3,900 women will die from this devastating disease. In developing nations,cervical cancer remains the number-one cause of cancer related deaths, with anestimated 493,000 cervical cancer cases being diagnosed each year, accountingfor more than 85 percent of new diagnosis. Of those 493,000 cases, anestimated 273,500 women will die from this preventable disease.
About National Cervical Cancer Coalit
