Nothing therefore prepared her for what befell her in August last year when she experienced very heavy bleeding. 

It was a moment that would change her life forever.

“I just stood up and there was blood all over, it was flowing down my legs into the boots I had worn to the shamba.”

Her friends, who witnessed this incident, were very shocked and immediately dashed her to the hospital for medical attention.

‘We knew we had to act quickly since none of us had seen anything like that before, she lost a lot of blood,” says Mary Agol, one of the friends.

At the hospital, Jacinta was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which experts now say has continued to claim the lives of more women than ever before.

Jacinta is in fact one of four to ten women diagnosed with cancer each week at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

Cervical cancer is caused by a group of viruses collectively known as Human Papillomaviruses (HPV) and although there are a hundred of them, only a few of them are known as high risk.

Due to the nature in which cervical cancer progresses, most women hardly know they are carrying this deadly disease.

Cervical infection develops into cancerous lesions which develop into cancer and the whole process can take about 20years or more.

“Cervical cancer develops in four stages, the early stages almost have no symptoms but by the second stage a woman may experience abnormal virginal discharge ,bleeding in between periods and heavy bleeding during periods,” said Dr.Omondi Ogutu, a gynecologist.

“By the time most women are checking themselves into a hospital, the cancer is completely advanced, and there’s very little we can do.”

At this stage, the woman is in unbearable pain.

“You see them in pain, you see them bleeding and smelling and there is nothing you can do to help,” said Sister Hilda from Nigeria during last year’s global call to stop cervix cancer.

Although this unfortunate situation can be arrested through women visiting the hospital for a Pap smear test, experts say that very few women actually see the need to.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt, women will go on with their business as usual while a pap smear takes only a minute and can literally save your life,” said Dr.Nelly Rwamba,a gynecologist in Nairobi.

“A pap smear is a pain free test that can detect the presence of cervical cancer in its early stages; a lot can be done to help a woman at this point.”

While the number of women who undergo a Pap smear test remains dismal, experts say it is quite unfortunate because a woman only needs to have the test done once a year.

In a situation where that ideal preventive measure is not possible, then one test in two years.

In addition, the cost to have a pap smear done is reasonably affordable “At KNH, a pap smear costs between Ksh150 and 200,” Dr.Ogutu Omondi added.

This amount does not even come close to the amount of money women spend when they end up in hospital with advanced cervical cancer.

“Radio therapy costs between Ksh 30 and 40,000.Beside the monetary cost there is the bleeding, fever, persistent pain and the general ill health,” Dr.Ogutu Omondi emphasized.

In addition, there is only one radio therapy unit at KNH and it takes care of all the different types of cancer that there is.

“A woman will therefore need to come and book in advance, and then stay on for about 30 days for radiotherapy,” said Dr.Nelly Rwamba Mugo

“All these services are centralized in Nairobi, you can imagine how costly it is then for women in the rural areas.”

Although the need for a pap smear cannot be overemphasized, other primary preventive measures that a woman can take involve delayed first sexual encounter.

Sexually active women are therefore more at risk. In addition, if a woman is sexually active as well as HIV positive, the risk is even higher.

Experts say that an estimated 70 per cent of women living with HIV will also have cervical cancer. This is primarily because HIV reduces immunity.

Another preventive measure is vaccination against cervical cancer .There is two types of vaccines; quadrivalent and bivalent, only quadrivalent is currently available in Kenya.

The vaccine-quadrivalent should be taken in three doses, one dose costs about Ksh 6,200 (at the current rate of one dollar to Ksh 62)

Research has shown that developing countries are more afflicted by cervical cancer making it one of the leading killer cancer in the region.

Furthermore, sub-Saharan countries like Eastern Africa, India and South Africa recording higher cases of cervical cancer than other developing nation.

According to a report by World Health Organization, an estimated 500,000 women all over the world are stricken by cervical cancer every year.

An AWC Feature