From January 24 to 30, for the ninth time in our country, we celebrate the European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. The national program for primary prevention of cervical cancer was launched in Bulgaria in 2012. There are similar programs in 26 European and 80 countries worldwide
Through this program in Bulgaria, an opportunity is provided to protect young girls from the onset of the disease by administering a free vaccine against cervical cancer to 12- and 13-year-olds. Prophylactic cervical cancer vaccines are the latest advancement in cancer control through the means of vaccine prevention.
The start of the cervical cancer prevention week was given in the parliament."With the joint efforts of everyone, we can achieve really good results", said the chairperson of the he alth commission, Dr. Daniela Daritkova. She recalled that "our country is part of the European week dedicated to the prevention of this insidious disease. I hope more and more funds are allocated to screening for this disease. All this will help us deal with the sad statistics".
For the third year in a row, the European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week will be celebrated in Bulgaria with an information stand located in the National Assembly building, where brochures, thematic materials and the symbol of the campaign - "The Pearl" will be distributed of wisdom".
According to the World He alth Organization, more than 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide every year, and nearly half of them die. The virus is sexually transmitted, and usually the highest risk of infection occurs in the first few years after becoming sexually active.
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women between the ages of 20 and 45 worldwide. Every 2 minutes in the world, a woman dies from the disease. In Europe this happens every 18 minutes. Every day a woman in Bulgaria dies of cervical cancer.
Every year in Bulgaria, more than 1000 women fall ill, and according to data from the Bulgarian National Cancer Registry for 2013, their number is 1092. A number of scientific publications prove that by means of immunization and regular examinations, mortality and morbidity from uterine cancer neck can be reduced by 94%. For this reason and this year, institutions, experts and patient organizations are uniting against questioning the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of vaccines with claims that are not based on any medical evidence. The scientific community worldwide is adamant that the safety profile of immunizations remains high, with the benefits many times outweighing the risks.