238 women undergo cancer screening
Think Pink Malawi on Saturday facilitated the screening for cervical cancer of 204 women while 238 women underwent breast examination in Lilongwe.
The exercise was part of an initiative to raise awareness about the two common cancers among women in the country.
Think Pink Malawi, an initiative established in 2014 and in its sixth year now, was at Area 25 Health Centre on Saturday with support from International Women Association of Malawi (Iwam) to raise awareness on the importance of early detection of reproductive cancer such as breast and cervical cancer.
Think Pink Malawi founder Blandina Khondowe, a breast cancer survivor, said 204 women were screened for cervical cancer and six were positive with three treated with thermal coagulation and the other three referred for further investigations.
About 238 women underwent breast examinations and three suspicious cases were detected and referred for scanning or mammography, she said.
Said Khondowe: “We decided to come to Area 25 as the population of women is high and thought to reach out to those that don’t have access to informative messages regarding cancer.”
Apart from screening for reproductive cancers, Think Pink Malawi also encouraged women to get tested for HIV and 118 women who tested were all negative.
She said the correlation between HIV and cervical cancer is that infected women are more susceptible to developing cervical cancer; hence, screening at one year intervals is encouraged as opposed to two years for those who are sero-negative.
Area 25 Health Centre in-charge Dr Tiwonge Mphangwe was delighted at Think Pink’s efforts which complement the already existing strategies that government is currently undertaking to curb cancer which includes the on-going HPV campaign done nationwide.
Government has trained nurses who are equipped to diagnose cervical cancer, conduct pap smears and breast examinations.
Nurse Susan Manyengo is one of the trained nurses based at the health centre and took part in Think Pink awareness campaign.
Think Pink comprises Khondowe (founder), Eleanor Ntonya (co-founder), Ella Bwanausi Kayira (nurse), Victoria Mopiwa, Tara Thindwa, Dr Beatrice Matanje and Malumbo Chirwa.
