Playtimes HK Magazine September 2018 Issue | Page 60

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Women's Ne
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September is gynaecological cancer awareness month.
Katharina Reimer of the Karen Leung Foundation talks about
the fourth most-common cancer in women worldwide
lobally, cervical cancer is
the fourth most-common
cancer among women,
with 528,000 cases
diagnosed each year. Sadly, half of
those diagnosed die, with the majority
of those deaths in Asia. In Hong Kong,
cervical cancer is one of the top-ten
causes of cancer in women. Five
hundred new cases of cervical cancer,
as well as many other cases of human
papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers,
were recorded in Hong Kong in 2015.
Every other day one women dies of
cervical cancer in Hong Kong.
HPV causes more than 99 per cent
of cases of cervical cancer. HPV is the
only carcinogenic agent responsive to a
vaccine, making it a highly preventable
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cancer. Unfortunately, however, too little is
done in Hong Kong to raise awareness of
the issue or promoting and implementing
primary and secondary preventative
measures. Once detected it’s often too
late and cervical cancer is very hard to
treat once it has reached Stage III.
HPV is the most common sexually
transmitted infection in humans. It
causes a range of different conditions,
the most severe being several
different types of cancer in both
men and women. Virtually all cases
of cervical cancer (99 per cent) are
linked to infection of HPV, as well as
88 per cent of all anal cancer, 78 per
cent of vaginal cancer, 51 per cent
of penile cancer, 15-48 per cent of
cancer of the vulva, and 13-60 per
cent of oropharyngeal cancers. As
of March 2017, 71 countries globally,
including Australia, Canada, UK, and
our neighbour Macau, had introduced
HPV vaccines into their national
immunisation programme for girls.
Eleven of those countries also provide
vaccination for boys. 1
The charts featured in this article
show statistics of incidence of cancers
that are related to HPV, according to
the Hong Kong Cancer Registry.
About the HPV vaccine
There are more than 100 types of HPV,
but only 14 are considered high risk for
cervical cancer and, of those, types 16
and 18 are the highest risk of all, causing
70 per cent of cervical cancers. Four