As part of the fight against cervical cancer, the Malian Society of Obstetric and Gynecology (SOMAGO) and the Malian Association of Pediatrics (AMAPED) held this Saturday, November 23, 2024, at the Radisson Collection hotel , a continuing education session for providers for the elimination of the disease using the “90 – 70 – 90” approach. This included equipping them to deal with rumors surrounding the vaccine against the disease.
To do this, many midwives; pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists actively followed presentations where trainers such as Professor Ibrahima TEGUETE, Teacher – Researcher; and Dr Boulaye DIAWARA, Gynecologist-Obstetrician, focused on all the issues surrounding HPV (human papillomavirus) infections as well as the lesions associated with this infection.
During this session, the president of SOMAGO, Ibrahima TEGUETE explained to participants that persistent oncogenic HPV infection is the necessary but not sufficient cause of cervical cancer.
To this end, he announced that a vaccine has now been tested effective against this virus. According to him, the HPV test is more effective in detecting precancerous lesions and predicting risk.
“The HPV test has more impact on reducing mortality from cervical cancer,” he explained; adding that vaccination and associated screening can reduce the rate of cervical cancer to the point that it is no longer a public health problem.
Professor Ibrahim TEGUETE also enlightened the participants on the epidemiology and dynamics of HPV infection in populations confirming the observations that cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease.
This day was an opportunity for health experts to convey to providers all the scientific evidence surrounding cervical cancer.
Thus hoping to achieve the objectives, professionals must be, according to Professor TEGUETE, able to respond satisfactorily to the questions that populations ask regarding vaccines.
Remember that the approach > falls under the global strategy plan for the elimination of cervical cancer published by the WHO in November 2020.
In fact, the > refers to the vaccination of 90% of girls against the human papillomavirus at the age of 15; the screening of 70% of women carried out using a high-performance test at the ages of 35 and 45; and finally the treatment of 90% of women with precancerous lesions.
According to this global strategy for eliminating cervical cancer, targets 90-70-90 must be achieved by 2030 for countries to be on track to eliminate the disease.
PAR AMINA SISSOKO
Source : Info Matin
