Screening rural women
A womens health campaign caused quite a stir in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, recently and MAJORIE CHIEW was in the small town to witness it.
ON a recent Saturday morning, over 30 healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses and medical students descended on the sleepy hollow of Kuala Krai, one-and-a-half hours drive from Kota Baru, Kelantan. Lots of people were milling around a busy morning market near the spacious Dewan Sri Guchil, where the health campaign was held, but there was only a trickle of people at the hall itself.
About 100 women were expected to turn up for pap smear screening, but only 58 showed up.
The screening was part of a campaign involving 10 rural areas in Kelantan supported by a RM20,500 grant from Pfizer Malaysia and jointly organised by the Kelantan Family Planning Association (KFPA) and the leading pharmaceutical company.
Rural areas with little exposure to sexual and reproductive health awareness were identified for pap smear screenings and the target groups are marginalised women like single mothers who are either widowed or divorced, and women who were not reached in previous health campaigns.
Kelantan Family Planning Association manager Wong Mei Lin said: The screening was a big success in Pasir Mas where more than 300 women turned up.
The association hopes to empower the women in Kelantan with knowledge about women and cancer and share health information.
Wong said: Once these women have gone through the painless procedure and find that it is neither difficult nor embarrassing, they might go for follow-up screenings next year at the nearest clinic.
Most of these rural women had not gone for health screenings for years. Wong said: They may be shy, frightened or give no priority to their health because they are under the impression that they are healthy.
In previous health screenings, fewer than 10 women were detected with breast lumps and these suspicious results warrant further investigation. Most rural women do not practise self-examination of their breasts and only discover breast lumps by accident.
In earlier pap smear screenings, two women were suspected to have cervical cancer but they refused treatment.
In conjunction with the health campaign, there was a poster exhibition on cancers affecting women and the importance of pap smears and self breast examinations. Some photographs were rather gruesome they showed how cancer had ravaged the bodies of women. The underlying message was that cancer can be disastrous to its victims, not to mention the pain and suffering.
The take-home message was: Early detection can help save lives before its all too late!
Rubber tapper Maria Saleh, 54, has seven children aged from 14 to 39. The oldest woman to turn up at the community centre, she underwent her first pap smear!
She was reluctant to be interviewed at first, but when approached again after two hours, she opened up a bit. A lone figure in the hall, she was ready to brave the event. After all, she had shared a taxi with a few others to get to the hall.
Im curious about the pap smear, she said, her voice barely audible. Asked why she came, she replied: Takut ada penyakit (Afraid of getting the disease).
For mother-of-three Rohani Nor, 42, the recent screening was her third pap smear. She has three children aged five to 11.
She did not have pap smears when she gave birth to her first two children. Her first pap smear was after she had delivered her third child.
At that time, I found out that I had a fungal infection which was treated with medication, she said. She went for the free screening because of the increasing number of cancer cases.
Housewife Asrah Anjal, 31, also has three children aged six, eight and nine.
I heard about this health screening a week ago from Amanah Ikhtiar, a local non-government organisation, said Asrah, a Sabahan married to a Kelantanese.
The pap smear was her third and she was waiting anxiously for the screening because in March, she went to a hospital for a check-up after finding a lump in one breast. However, she was relieved to find out that the 2mm lump was benign. She has since gone for follow-up visits thrice and was told that the lump had not grown.
Lately, the lump seems to have disappeared. I want to ask the doctor for another opinion, she said.
Was the pap smear painful?
Tak sakit (Not painful). Pejam mata dah siap. (You close your eyes and its over), she said.
Rubber tapper Maria Abdul Rahman, 35, who has seven children, was asked if she was scared after viewing the posters on cervical and breast cancers.
She had two friends who were victims of breast cancer and only one survived.
She said: One of them had a breast removed and is a cancer survivor. The other friend died a year after her mastectomy, leaving seven children. Her husband has since remarried.//Thestar 28 Sept
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