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Marumoto Urges Women Legislators
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
MARUMOTO URGES WOMEN LEGISLATORS JOIN A
GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO ERADICATE CERVICAL CANCER
By
Michele Van Hessen
Marking Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in January, Rep. Barbara Marumoto is urging women legislators to join a coalition of women's health and advocacy organizations in the United States and Europe in a new, united effort to eradicate and prevent cervical cancer worldwide.
The Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer (www.PearlofWisdom.us) will raise awareness of cervical cancer, encourage women to take advantage of the means that are now available to prevent it, and work to make sure that these methods are accessible to girls and women around the globe particularly to underserved populations that have much higher rates of cervical cancer. A central focus of the campaign is the promotion of the Pearl of Wisdom pin as the global symbol of cervical cancer prevention, designed to help all groups involved unite behind a core set of messages.
'Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women around the world, killing nearly 300,000 women each year, said Rep. Barbara Marumoto. 'This is a tragic figure because this disease is almost completely preventable. Research has established that cervical cancer is caused by a persistent infection of a very common virus called the human papilloma virus (HPV), whose presence is seen in 99.7% of all cervical cancers. So, this means that almost every case of cervical cancer is now preventable through organized screening with 1) Pap Tests, 2) HPV tests, and 3) immunization with HPV vaccines.
According to Marumoto, 'this session the Hawaii Legislative Women's Caucus will support a bill to increase screening and a resolution asking the Department of Health step up educational efforts on how to prevent cervical. In 2006 the Caucus established a Speakers Bureau to take the prevention message out to the community.
The Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer was started by the European Cervical Cancer Association of ECCA (www.ecca.info) which includes 100 organizations across Europe. The U.S. partners include the following groups:
American Medical Women's Association
American Social Health Association
Balm in Gilead
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Global Summit of Women
National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health
National Council of Women's Organizations
Society for Women's Health Research
Tamika and Friends
Women in Government
The Yellow Umbrella Organization, and others.
Pearl of Wisdom pins are available at www.PearlofWisdom.us for $6.95 each. Proceeds go to the U.S. Pearl of Wisdom Campaign Fund, dedicated to the support of U.S.-based cervical cancer prevention activities.
'The prevention of cervical cancer is now a realizable goal and this program is the ideal symbol to spread this powerful message. It is my hope that women around the world take this symbol to heart and support the united campaign to ultimately eliminate cervical cancer, said Marumoto.
ABOUT CERVICAL CANCER
Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide. In the U.S., the American Cancer Society estimated that 11,070 women will be diagnosed and 3,870 will die of this disease in 2008. Cervical cancer is caused by high-risk types of the HPV which is a very common sexually transmitted infection that 3 or 4 adults will have at some time in their lives. Most of these infections go away on their own without treatment. Infections that do not go away can lead to cancer or genital warts.
A Pap test is the traditional method used to identify abnormal cells in the cervix. An HPV test identifies women who are infected with high-risk types of HPV that could potentially lead to cervical cancer. Clinical studies suggest that screening with both a Pap test and an HPV test offers women the best protection against cervical cancer.
An HPV vaccine is now FDA-approved for girls and young women ages 9 26. It has been shown to be 100% effective in women not previously infected at preventing infection with the two types of HPV that cause approximately 70% of all cervical cancers. An HPV vaccination does not protect against all HPV types that can cause cervical cancer, meaning that women who have been vaccinated still need to be screened to protect against the 30% HPV types that are not covered by the vaccine.
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Michele Van Hessen
Cell 227-4332
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