Twelve Filipino women die each day because of cervical cancer, health experts revealed Tuesday

Out of the estimated 6,000 new cases diagnosed with the disease each year, only 44 percent will survive, they added.

While cervical cancer is curable and preventable, Dr. Rey Delos Reyes, president of the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS), said two-thirds of the cases detected in the country are already in the advanced stage of the disease.

It is important for doctors to detect the cancer cells early on in order to prevent the development of cancer, he said.

Delos Reyes said the peak age for cervical cancer is within the range of 45 to 55 years. Undergoing regular pap smear screening decreases this kind of cancer by 70 percent as the procedure is able to detect abnormalities in the cervical area, he explained.

Women who engaged in sex early in life are at risk for developing the disease as well as those who have multiple sexual partners or women whose partners have multiple sex partners, he said.

Delos Reyes said this disease is usually linked to the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a kind of sexually-transmitted infection. HPV 16 and 18 were found to cause most cervical cancer diseases.

In the early stage, the disease is usually tricky as symptoms are usually absent. “They do not complain of anything. But as the tumor gradually becomes visible, they begin to complain of bleeding, which is usually after sexual contact because during sex, the tip of the penis touches the cervix and this causes trauma. Other women complain of malodorous discharge,” Delos Reyes told the press in a conference Tuesday in celebration of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.

“It is important that early consultation is made. Do not wait for pain and discomfort. That indicates that the tumor is already big,” he warned.

If cervical cancer is detected in the early stage, such as stage 1-A, he said the cure rate is 95 percent. However, local cases are usually seen by doctors usually at stages 3 and 4 where the cure rate has already decreased to 35 percent.

In stage 1-A , patients are usually asymptomatic or don’t feel anything to suspect having the disease.

Stage 1-B of the disease is characterized by bleeding and malodorous discharge.

Cervical cancer develops slowly. Between the infection stage and the pre-malignant stage, it usually takes five to 10 years before the cancer develops.

The expert said women should have themselves checked against cervical cancer regularly. A vaccine is now also available to prevent cervical cancer.

Meanwhile, Department of Health (DoH)-retained hospitals nationwide are providing free cervical cancer screening on May 26.

In stage 1-A , patients are usually asymptomatic, they cannot feel anything.

Stage 1-B of the disease is characterized by bleeding and malodorous discharge.

In a related development, Dr. Myrna Cabotaje, director of the Center for Health Development in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CHD-CAR), said health authorities are focusing on controlling the rise of cervical cancer cases in the region, including Baguio City.

The Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) has recorded a steady increase in the number of cervical cancer cases over the past several years.

From 74 cases in 2006, cervical cancer cases increased to 81 in 2007, 83 in 2008 and 170 cases in 2009.

Because of the alarming increase in cases, Cabotaje urged health workers in the region to facilitate the implementation of the agency’s health programs and projects that will help curb the expected increase in diseases that could claim lives in the future.

The advocacy of the health department regarding better health for the people, especially the women, is in line with the celebration of cervical awareness month, safe motherhood week and natural family planning month.

One of the eight MDGs prescribed by the UN for the Philippines and other developing countries to comply by the year 2015 is the eradication of maternal deaths, especially in the remote parts of the country.

Aside from intensifying the agency’s various health programs in the countryside, the CHD-CAR called on the public to cooperate with the implementation of the programs by having their children and women undergo appropriate health care in order to significantly reduce maternal mortality. (With a report from Dexter A. See)