An Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Adetola Olatunji, has warned girls and ladies to shun early sexual intercourse and having multiple sex partners to avert the risks of developing deadly cervical cancer.
Adetola said the cancer of the cervix is common and sexually transmitted, explaining that it is caused by a microorganism called Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
The Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, who made this known yesterday at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago โ Iwoye, added that HPV has been implicated in โabout 99% of cases of cancer of the cervix.โ
Delivering the institutionโs 91st inaugural lecture titled; โFemale Reproductive Structure and Function: Bane of Women in the Developing Countries,โ he said immunisation against the virus before the female genital tract is exposed to it could prevent the development of cervical cancer.
Citing WHO recommendation, he said boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 12 years should be vaccinated against the virus before they start having sexual contact which would expose them to the HPV infection and subsequent transmission to the female genital tract by the male
Adetola also advised ladies and women to go for early detection check through โcervical screeningโ as another way of preventing the development of the deadly cancer of the cervix..
According to him, โcervical screeningโ is quite cheap as such screening cost only N500 at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital(OOUTH), Sagamu.
He lamented that despite being preventable, cases of cervical cancer in Nigeria are presented for treatment in advanced stages when little success could be achieved.
He also advised women with uterine fibroids to seek proper treatment from experts and desist from living under the illusion that there is a remedy that could make fibroid pass out like faeces through the anus.
He said there is no iota of truth to that, adding that given how uterus with fibroid looks like and nodules excised from it at surgery, one should wonder if fibroid could be passed out from the anus as believed by women.
He also advised that the definitive treatment of uterine fibroids is by surgical removal of the fibroid nodules โ myomectomy for young ones that still need to have babies or outright removal of the whole uterus (hysterectomy) in women that have concluded child bearing.
On reproductive failures, Adetola identified blockage of the fallopian tubes and failure to ovulate as the major causes of infertility in women while in men, it could be caused by inadequate or absence of spermatozoa in semen.
He noted that unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections are the common predispositions to tubal blockage in women and advised infertile couples to seek professional help for solutions to their problems.
According to him, if โwomen are well educated on the importance of hospital care at all tomes, adequate facilities are made available for obstetric surveillance and care and the diseases that affect the structures that bear forth the children can both be prevented or cured when presented to the Gynaecologist at a very early stage, the reproductive structure will be well protected in a healthy state and pregnancy will be something to be looked forward to with no or minimal discomfort.โ
