Region of the Americas (AMR)

This report provides a brief overview of cancer epidemiology and capacity for comprehensive care-prevention, screening, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care- for the two most common cancers in women, breast and cervical cancer, for the non-Latin Caribbean region. This serves as a background document for discussion in the Forum on Women’s Cancers in the English Caribbean, convened by PAHO and the University of Miami, May 11-12, 2016. 

The national cervical cancer committee of Belize is comprised of representatives from the government, non-governmental organizations, the private health sector, and the Belize Cancer Society. The committee advocates with policy makers, and provides health information and education to target populations and the general public on the prevention and control of cervical cancer. The committee has also provided support to patients in need for specialized services locally and abroad. 

Since the latter part of 2015, the committee embarked on the updating of the cervical cancer clinical guidelines and procedure manual, the development of a policy document, and an update of the national strategic plan. The committee, through IPPF/WHR Member Association the Belize Family Life Association (BFLA), received technical assistance and financial support from partner agencies involved with cervical cancer prevention and control. These agencies are the IPPF/WHR, the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and Jhpiego.

The cervical cancer clinical guidelines were created in order to ensure that health workers from all sectors have a standardized approach to the prevention and control of cervical cancer. 

Despite the preventable nature of invasive cervical cancer, nearly 70,000 new cases and more than

28,000 deaths occur annually in the Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) region placing

cervical cancer incidence and mortality second highest among cancers in women in the region.

Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with virtually all cervical cancers.

Approximately 5 to 10% of women infected with high-risk HPV types develop persistent infections,

which can lead to precancerous lesions; HPV types 16 and 18 are associated with about 70% of

cervical cancers. The long delay between time of infection and development of cancer explains the

effectiveness of screening as a prevention strategy. Vaccination of adolescent girls against HPV

and screening of women are the best ways of preventing this disease. Cytology-based screening

programmes have been implemented in most of the LAC region, but the success of these

programmes has been very limited.

El Cáncer Cervicouterino es una de las mayores causas de muerte por enfermedad entre las mujeres suramericanas. El Consejo Suramericano de Salud (CSS) de UNASUR ha otorgado un mandato a la Red de Institutos e Instituciones Nacionales de Cáncer (RINC/UNASUR) para desarrollar un Plan de Asistencia Técnica y ayudar a los países de la Región con el fin de reducir drásticamente la incidencia y eliminar la mortalidad a causa de esta enfermedad.