ORANJESTAD- A second round of Cervical Cancer screening for women ages 50 to 60 years will start on St. Eustatius coming Monday.

This year women aged 50-60 years on St. Eustatius are encouraged to participate in the cervical cancer screening program. 49 women have already been screened in the first round. From 29 August until 2 September, the second round of screening will take place.

The cervical cancer screening is the first of three screening programs that was started on St. Eustatius and is conducted by the Public Health Prevention Clinic in collaboration with the St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation and RIVM. 

Benefits

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally. Thanks to the cervical cancer screening program on HPV (human papillomavirus) precancerous stages of the illness can be detected in an earlier stage, making the disease fairly treatable. 

 “The thought of testing for cancer might be scary. But it’s important to know that in a normal population, an abnormal PAP smear takes on average 10 to 15 years before it develops into cervical cancer. So by testing now and detecting abnormalities now in an early stage, I can save a life.” Says Doctor Courtar, OBGYN specialist.

Thanks to the good cooperation between RIVM, Public Health Prevention Clinic and the St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation, the cervical cancer screening will now be structurally executed. This systemic approach will contribute to health benefits for the people of St. Eustatius.