The South Asian: Bangladesh: Cancer Signals

December 17, 2006

Bangladesh: Cancer Signals

Sagar Shabnam writes for the Women's Features Service finds that uterus cancer has affected many in Bangladesh and that grassroots level awareness may be the most effective way of saving lives.

Dhaka,(Women's Feature Service/NewsNetwork) - Kassilleya Rajbangshi, 50, lives with her husband and five children in Tara village, in Manikganj. Recently, she woke up one morning to find her clothes soaked in blood.

Rajbangshi was surprised, as she had gone through menopause five years ago. She suffered severe abdominal pain and the bleeding continued for many days. It was both painful and embarrassing for Rajbangshi. Within days her health started deteriorating, but she did not suspect there was something seriously wrong with her.

Married at age 10, Rajbangshi had never been to a doctor. All her children were born at home. This time too, instead of rushing to a doctor, she opted to visit a kabiraj (healer). But when the bleeding did not completely stop, Rajbangshi visited the Garpara Sahara Hasan Hospital, not far from her village.

The doctor diagnosed her problem as cancer of the uterus. She was advised to go to a specialised cancer hospital in Dhaka's Mohakhali. "I'm suffering from a fatal disease," she says, still quite unaware about the disease and its treatment. Rajbangshi is like thousands of women in Bangladesh who have not even heard of cancer of the uterus. When they do come to know, it is usually too late.

Although cancer of the uterus is common among Bangladeshi women, there is little awareness about the disease. According to one estimate, as many as 26 per cent women in Bangladesh suffer from cancer of the uterus. Dr Rowshan Ara Begum from the Holy Family Hospital, says, "Early marriage, frequent pregnancies at an early age and lack of awareness about health care are the main reasons why cancer (especially at the mouth of uterus) is so common in Bangladesh."

Dr Khurshid Jahan Mowla, an Associate Professor and Head of Gynaecology-Oncology at the National Cancer Research Institute, says unusual menstruation, bleeding in between the two menstruation cycles, resumption of menstruation after menopause, and bleeding during sexual intercourse - all these are early warning signals that should be taken seriously.

He says it may take 8-30 years for the cancerous cells to spread around the mouth of the uterus. Mowla adds that uterus cancer is one of the major killers of women in developing countries.

However, Mowla feels that besides early marriage and frequent pregnancies, polygamy, long-term use of birth control pills and smoking can also cause this cancer.

Mowla says a pap smear test is essential when the early signs surface. Once the disease is detected then surgery is recommended.

According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 200,000 people are afflicted with cancer each year. Between 2000-2002, a total of 161 women were admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib University Hospital. Thirty of them suffered from cancer located at the mouth of the uterus.

Doctors suggest several steps for prevention of the disease. The practice of early marriage must stop; fidelity between partners is essential; and smoking should be avoided. Women after 40 must go for pap smear tests every three years.

Dr Latifa Shamsuddin, Professor at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib University Hospital, has discovered a new method - Via - to detect cancer at the mouth of the uterus. Shamsuddin says the Via test is simpler than the pap-smear test. "It can be done easily," she says.

Experts stress the need for more grassroots-level campaigns to make people aware of this disease. And early detection can save many women and help them live a healthy life.

Courtesy: Women's Feature Service G-69 (second floor); Nizammudin (West), New Delhi: 110 013; India. Phone: 91-11-2435 9886, 91-11-2435 2546; Fax: 91-11-2435 4606, Email: wfsdelhi@vsnl.com

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Comments

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CEO
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Posted by: MR.SIDDIQUR RAHMAN on January 25, 2007 08:06 AM

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