The Health Ministry will soon rollout its new campaign to conduct mass Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing for all citizens above the age of 30.
This was announced by Health Advisor, Dr Leslie Ramsammy during a recent programme where he spoke about the need to increase HPV testing in Guyana.
“We’re broadening our screening programme, in a few weeks from now, you will hear us introducing mass HPV testing for all persons thirty and above. More than 85 per cent…of all cervical cancer are due to HPV 16 and 18 in Guyana. And therefore, if we can identify people who are HPV positive, we identify people who are at risk for cervical cancer and maybe other cancers too.”
According to Dr Ramsammy, through increased testing, authorities will be able to identify persons who are at risk and pay more attention to giving them the necessary healthcare.
Health Advisor, Dr Leslie Ramsammy
“So, we’re going to be introducing HPV testing as one of the frontline interventions so that we can identify people at risk and pay more attention to these persons. And then support that by frequent monitoring and introduction of things like pap smears, VIA (Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid), surgical intervention, cryotherapy, etc, for those people who have cervical cancer,” Dr Ramsammy explained.
HPV testing is critical for Guyana to identify persons at risk for cervical and other cancers. Last year, the Health Ministry expanded access to HPV vaccines to persons beyond 15 years of age, in keeping with new guidelines issued by global health authorities.
Earlier this month, Dr Ramsammy had expressed disappointment at the lack of awareness as it relates to HPV.
“We are disappointed that the education and awareness programme and the strategies to lift the HPV vaccination among boys and girls appear stagnated and little effort is being made to improve HPV vaccination coverage. Equally, we are disappointed that HPV testing is still very inaccessible in Guyana,” Dr Ramsammy shared.
HPV is a common sexually transmitted infection that usually shows no symptoms and goes away by itself, but can sometimes cause serious illness. HPV is responsible for almost all cases of genital warts and cervical cancer, and 90 per cent of anal cancers.
The Government of Guyana has increased significantly, its health investment, with more than a doubling of the per capita investment in health between 2020 and 2023.
At least seven new hospitals have already started construction and all existing hospitals will be re-developed. The physical and technological infrastructure of the public health sector is being transformed. Human resource transformation has also begun.
A telemedicine programme is linking people from the most remote communities to doctors at GPHC.
In acknowledging these advances, the Ministry of Health was urged to elevate the strategies and actions to manage and control cancers in our country.
