Madzorera made the statement when launching a £60 million four-year Integrated Support Programme last week at Wilkins Hospital.
“With only about 7,2 percent population coverage, (5.2 percent in rural areas and 10,8 percent in urban areas) of cervical cancer screening programmes, it means about 2,3 million women in urban areas and 1,3 million women in rural communities are not accessing cervical cancer screening services,” he said.
Madzorera said lack of information and the high costs of screening and treatment were to blame for the poor cervical cancer screening coverage.
Cervical cancer constitutes at least 32 percent of cancers that affect women, causing nearly 1, 300 deaths every year, yet it can be prevented if women are screened early, said Madzorera.
“All women aged 15 and above are at risk of cervical cancer. This translates to about 3,9 million women. Annually, 1,855 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 1, 286 die from the disease,” said Madzorera.
According to World Health Organisation, Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of cervical cancer in the world, mainly due to high HIV prevalence.
Madzorera said one of the key interventions in fighting cervical cancer was to set up screening sites at district, provincial and central hospitals, city and rural health clinics as well as sites targeting HIV positive women.
Post published in: News