Indonesia Records World's Second Highest Cervical Cancer Cases

JAKARTA, March 16 (Antara) - The number of cervical cancer cases in Indonesia has reached 21 thousand, the second highest in the world, due to lack of screening for the disease. "The high number of cervical cancer case in Indonesia, ideally, should be balanced with health facilities that include physicians, midwives, and screening," General Affairs Manager of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) Afiat Djajanegara said in a statement here on Wednesday. In 2014, cancer had claimed the lives of more than 92 thousand women in Indonesia, some 10.3 percent of them caused by cervical cancer. Afiat stated that screening helps in the early detection of the disease or clinical abnormality through tests or other procedures. During the period of 2000-2012, younger women aged between 21 and 22 years were diagnosed with cervical cancer. A study by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed the lack of awareness among woman to undergo cancer screening in Indonesia. "Primary health centers are yet to provide the facility for cervical cancer screening, in general, since 2014," he said, adding that the late diagnosis of the disease has resulted in the high mortality rate in Indonesia. Afiat remarked that Thai oil company PTTEP and non-profit organization Dompet Dhuafa have donated cervical cancer screening tools to 10 selected midwives in rural areas and in the outskirts of Jakarta and surrounding cities.