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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Health Report. |
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The World Health Organization (WHO) says |
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cervical cancer kills 250,000 women worldwide each year. |
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WHO officials say four out of five of those women |
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live in poor countries, |
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like in the west African nation of Burkina Faso. |
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Doctors there are using a simple low-cost method |
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to test for cervical cancer. |
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They say the test can save thousands of lives every year. |
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Yacouba Ouedraogo directs the cervical cancer prevention program |
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at a health clinic in the capital, Ouagadougou. |
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He says cervical cancer has become the most common cancer |
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among women in Burkina Faso, |
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but he says finding and treating the cancer |
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in its early stages has recently become much easier. |
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Doctors there are using a small piece of cotton |
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covered with distilled white vinegar |
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- the vinegar can be bought at almost any market in Africa. |
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The doctors rub the cotton swab on the opening of a woman's uterus. |
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Once the liquid touches the organ, |
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any pre-cancerous or cancerous cells will turn white. |
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Dr. Stanislas Paul Nebie has been using the vinegar test |
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on his patients since 2010. |
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He says it is very simple, and unlike other tests, |
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which can be costly, |
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and require sending cell samples to a laboratory. |
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With the vinegar test, he says, |
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any problems can be seen immediately |
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and treated during the same visit. |
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At a medical center in Ouagadougou, |
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women pay $4 for the test and treatment |
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for any cells that show signs of cancer. |
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Dr. Nebie says this is a good deal, |
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considering the high cost of radiology |
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or surgical treatments if the cancer is not caught early. |
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He said medical centers, even in rural villages, |
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can and are performing the vinegar test |
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and suggesting patients for treatment. |
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Burkina Faso does not yet have numbers |
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for how many lives the vinegar test has saved. |
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But doctors in India announced earlier this year |
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that the test had cut cervical cancer deaths |
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by 31 percent in a study there. |
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They said the study involved 150,000 women. |
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Most cervical cancer comes as a result of the human papillomavirus, |
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which is passed through sexual contact. |
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The disease often has few signs until it reaches advanced stage |
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and becomes more difficult to treat. |
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Women simply do not know they have it, |
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sometimes until it is too late. |
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And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English. |
