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Supported by: East West University Health and Well-Being Club (EHWC)

The Department of Social Relations, East West University in collaboration with East West University Health and Well-Being Club (EHWC) organized a seminar on ‘Cervical Cancer Awareness’ on 27 February at 01.30 pm in S. M. Nousher Ali Lecture Gallery (Room No. 126). Professor Dr. Md. Mobarak Hossain Khan, Chairperson Department of Social Relations, East West University, chaired the seminar. The invited External Speaker of the seminar was Dr. Sanjida Ahmed Soma, FCPS (Gynecological Oncology), FCPS (Gynecology & Obstetrics), MBBS (DU), BCS (Health), Consultant & Assistant Registrar, National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital, Dhaka. Dr. Marzia Zaman Sultana, Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Relations, East West University was the Internal Speaker of the seminar. Faculty members of different departments and students of different courses and departments were present in the seminar and participated in the question answer session. Significant proportion of EWU students and majority of students of Department of Social Relations are young female of reproductive age and are vulnerable group for cervical cancer. Creating awareness among them is a key to preventing this deadly cancer and accelerating the pace of elimination. Worldwide, January is observed as the cervical cancer awareness month. In this relation the Department of Social Relation organized this seminar. Besides the seminar EWU Health and Well-being Club member distributed one page fact sheet on cervical cancer among the students.

The program chair gave speech on epidemiology of Cervical Cancer on global and Bangladesh perspective. In his speech he mentioned that cervical cancer has been a major public health problem in recent years in Bangladesh. The number of patients, related deaths and case fatality rate is increasing every year. There is a lack of awareness regarding this among the high-risk population. Dr. Marzia mentioned that, in 2022, more than 660 000 women are estimated to have been diagnosed with cervical cancer worldwide and about 350 000 women are estimated to have died from the disease. Bangladesh has a population of 64.0 million women aged 15 years and older who are at risk of developing cervical cancer. Current estimates indicate that every year 8268 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 4971 die from the disease in Bangladesh. Cervical cancer ranks as the 2^nd most frequent cancer among women between15 and 44 years of age in the country. Knowledge regarding this deadly cancer among the Bangladeshi women is found to be very low.

Dr. Sanjida highlighted that the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative in November 2020, with the goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2100. To achieve this, all countries must reach and maintain an incidence rate of fewer than 4 new cases of cervical cancer per 100 000 women per year. Achieving that goal rests on three key pillars and their corresponding targets: Vaccination: 90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by the age of 15 years; Screening: 70% of women screened using a high-performance test by the age of 35 years, and again by the age of 45 years; Treatment: 90% of women with precancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed. Each country should meet the 90–70–90 targets by 2030 to get on the path towards eliminating cervical cancer by the end of this century. Achievement of these targets need public awareness on cervical cancer and its vaccination, especially for the young adults. She described the risk factors, methods of diagnosis, screening tests for early detection, vaccination schedule, available treatment facilities and preventive measures. Female students were very much willing to know and asked a lot of question to the speaker. This interactive seminar ended with a vote of thank from the Program Chair.