January 2020

The cervical cancer prevention campaign initiated by the Mobile Clinic in 2018 is continuing.  In 2018 and 2019, the campaign was organised in collaboration with the Business Professional Women (BPW) Cyprus and with the support of the Ministry of Health.  It covered rural areas of the districts of Limassol, Larnaca and Famagusta.  More than 500 women were tested free of charge.

From the beginning of Fall 2019, the Mobile Clinic resumed the screenings for domestic workers in Cyprus.  Twenty Filipina women are examined on a monthly basis by the Medical School’s Clinical Associate Professor for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Savvas Argyrides, who is assisted by medical student volunteers.  The programme is executed in collaboration with the Filipino Association Obreras Empowered and with the support of the Histopathology and Cytology Medical Centre (Dr Doros Lysiotis) in Nicosia.  So far, more than 100 women have been tested free of charge.

According to the World Health Organization, cervical cancer is the fourth most frequent cancer in women, with an estimated 570,000 new cases in 2018, representing 6.6% of all female cancers. Approximately 90% of deaths from cervical cancer occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Based on the study of the HPV Information Centre about cervical cancer in Cyprus:

  • Ranks as the 12th leading cause of female cancer
  • It is the 3rd most common female cancer in women aged 15 to 44 years
  • Forty-five new cases are diagnosed annually
  • Eighteen deaths occur annually