January is Cervical Health Awareness Month
Cervical Health Awareness Month in January is a time to focus on cervical health and cervical cancer prevention. The World Health Organization has a plan for the elimination of cervical cancer through vaccination and screening—we can get there! This January, we encourage you to learn more about cervical health and cervical cancer prevention and take steps to help eliminate this preventable cancer.
What Can You Do?
To start, learn about cervical health and cancer prevention. There are two important tools for prevention—HPV vaccination and regular screening.
Vaccination
The HPV vaccine has been around since 2006. In that time, rates of cervical cancer incidence have dropped significantly among vaccinated women. One study from Sweden looked at 11 years (2006 through 2017) and found 90% reduction in cervical cancer incidence compared with the incidence in women who had not been vaccinated. Vaccination prevents cancer! Learn more here.
Screening
The goal of cervical cancer screening—Pap tests and HPV tests—is to find problems, like cell changes, so they can be treated before they turn into cancer.
But sorting through the different types of screening options and the different recommendations can be confusing. What types of options are available? When should screening start? Do you need a Pap test, an HPV test, or both? And how often do you need to be screened? While it can seem complicated, we can break it down for you. Fred and April take you step by step through the different screening options as you choose, learning about each. In the end, they’ll help sort out which screening option is best.
Learn from Advocates and Providers
At ASHA, we learn from the stories of survivors and advocates who work to educate others. Award-winning actress Alysia Reiner (Orange is the New Black and Better Things) and gynecological surgeon Karen Tang, MD, talked with NCCC about preventing cervical cancer through education and activism.
Promote Cervical Health on Social Media
You can help promote the importance of cervical health and cervical cancer prevention by sharing prevention messages throughout the month that cervical cancer is preventable! Check out our social media toolkit for graphics and posts to share.
Listen to ASHA’s Sex+Health Podcast
Download or stream episodes from ASHA’s Sex+Health podcast and on HPV-associated cancers.
The Art and Science of Treating Cervical Cancer
Cervical cancers can be as unique as the patients in whom they’re diagnosed so there’s no one size fits all approach to treatment. In this episode we talk with Dr. Leslie Randall, Division Head of Gynecologic Oncology with the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center about treatment options like surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and innovations like immune therapies, as well as the crucial role patients play in the research and clinical trials process
A Conversation on Cervical Cancer with Denise Linton, DNS, RN, FNP, FAANP
Cervical cancer is preventable and that’s something to celebrate. We still have work to do though as some communities – especially people of color and rural residents – tend to be diagnosed with cervical cancer more frequently (and often with a more advanced stage). In this episode with chat with Denise Linton, DNS, RN, FNP, FAANP to explore ways to make medical care more accessible and welcoming for everyone. Dr. Linton also offers insights on the value of clinical trials in developing new therapies and how we can do a better job of making them far more inclusive.
HPV Tests Take Center Stage
It used to be so simple: go for an annual Pap! The venerable Pap is now frequently used as a co-test along with a test for the Human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes almost all cases of cervical cancer. In this episode Dr. Latoya Patterson breaks down the current approaches to screening for cervical cancer including the newest option, HPV primary screening, where an HPV test is used without being paired with a Pap test. The Pap test still has a role, though, so tune in to find out all about it!