Observance of “Cervical Cancer Awareness Month” January 2021 by Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, AIIMS Mangalagiri

The ‘Observance of cervical cancer awareness month –Jan 2021’ was organized by the  Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology at AIIMS, Mangalagiri with a series of events. Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in India and is one of the important public health and woman’s wellness issue. The focus of the events   was  comprehensive prevention , screening  and early detection of cervical cancer. All events were organized taking into account the Government of India advisories like social distancing, wearing of masks, etc. The following activities were conducted:

• A patient information pamphlet on ‘Cervical cancer awareness’ was released by Prof. (Dr.) Mukesh Tripathi, Honorable Director and CEO, AIIMS, Mangalagiri

• E-poster competition on ‘cervical cancer awareness’ was conducted to disseminate this important public health and woman’s wellness issue. We had an  overwhelming response and  posters were received from medical graduates and staff  from several medical institutes all across the country.
• A PAP smear screening drive was organized to promote  screening  of  patients and  staff at AIIMS- Mangalagiri
• Multilingual and multimodal awareness sessions using various modalities like power point presentations, posters and placards   were conducted on three different occasions for patients, housekeeping, nursing orderlies, other staff and students  at the  OBG OPD block,  AIIMS, Mangalagiri
• Cervical cancer awareness sessions was conducted via virtual platform (Zoom and You tube live streaming) on   three  consecutive days for  the various  NGO  groups  in Andhra Pradesh. More than 600 women members attended the  program and we received  several positive feedback on these sessions.
• Awareness posters were displayed in OBG OPD and IEC pamphlets were distributed to patients
• A cervical cancer screening camp was organized at Nuttakki PHC and women in the village were motivated to get themselves screened with a PAP screening test for cervical cancer.

All these activities will go a long way in reducing the cervical cancer disease burden  among the population.