Cervical cancer is almost entirely preventable. Screening tools can detect the disease at an early, curable stage. The federal Food and Drug Administration has approved a preventive vaccine. The state of Arkansas provides free Pap tests for low-income residents.

But women are still dying.

For me, as for so many Arkansans, the issue is personal. Cancer touched my family when it took my mother at far too young an age. What I find so troubling about cervical cancer is that it continues to take a toll even though tests and vaccines can prevent it.

In 2007, the American Cancer Society estimated that nearly 3,700 women in the United States would die of cervical cancer and that 11,150 new cases would be diagnosed. Those numbers represent a significant decline from 40 years ago, when the disease was the leading cause of cancer deaths among American women. Widespread use of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test, which detects cancerous or potentially cancerous cells, triggered the decline.

But women are still dying.

Arkansas and West Virginia recorded the nation’s highest death rate for cervical cancer from 2000 to 2004. Statistics provided by the Arkansas Department of Health show the mortality rate for African American women in Arkansas is twice that of white women.

Nationally, about half of the diagnosed cases of cervical cancer are in women who have never had a Pap test and another 10 percent represent women who have gone five years without the screening.

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized use of a vaccine for cervical cancer. But this inoculation is designed to protect girls and women, ages 9 to 26, before they become sexually active. The vaccine can’t fight existing infections nor does it target all strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes almost all cases of cervical cancer.

Numbers can be confusing. But the message to Arkansas women is clear: Schedule a Pap test today. Inoculate your daughters, too.

Congress designated January as Cervical Health Awareness Month. But a designation is only as effective as the action it inspires.

The National Lieutenant Governors Association is working to eradicate cervical cancer through distribution of medically accurate information by association members -- including myself as a member of the NLGA Executive Committee.

The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a service-oriented organization comprising primarily African American college-trained professional women, is collaborating with the Arkansas Cervical Cancer Task Force to educate Arkansans about the disease. The two groups intend to distribute “Tell A Sister” toolkits promoting 100 Days of Cervical Cancer Awareness.

Cervical Cancer Facts

Here is what every Arkansas woman should know:

• Cervical cancer is almost always caused by a sexually transmitted virus called human papillomavirus, or HPV.
• The virus causes no symptoms and usually goes away on its own. However, high-risk HPV, which stays in a woman’s body for years, can cause cervical cells to develop pre-cancerous changes.
  
• A simple Pap test can detect abnormal cells. Also called a Pap smear, the results may call for additional procedures (including colposcopies and biopsies) to look for precancerous or cancerous lesions.
  
• Some biopsies remove the lesions, but outpatient surgery might be necessary to freeze or vaporize them.
  
• Women of all ages are at risk of cervical cancer, but half of those diagnosed are between ages 35 and 55, with the average age being 47.

Get Tested!

BreastCare, a program of the Arkansas Department of Health, provides free Pap smears and other screening, diagnostic and treatment services for breast and cervical cancer to Arkansas women, ages 40 to 64, who have little or no health insurance, and who live in a low-income household. The income cutoff is double the federal poverty level. In 2007, for example, the cutoff for a four-person household was $3,442 a month.

These free cervical cancer services also include colposcopies, cervical biopsies, consultations and treatment. U.S. Census Bureau figures indicate that about 58,000 Arkansas women were eligible for BreastCare in 2007. But only18,000 women enrolled. Of that number, 8,200 were screened for cervical cancer.

This gap in eligibility and enrollment helps explain why Arkansas ranks 45th nationally in the percentage of women 18 years and older who had a Pap smear in the past three years. Clearly, we have a long way to go in making more women aware of the disease and how it can be avoided.

Start today by learning more about cervical cancer. Visit the Cervical Cancer Task Force website at www.arkansascancercoalition.org/cctf.html, the BreastCare website at www.ARBreastCare.com, or call 1-877-670-CARE to learn more about the BreastCare program.

Tell a friend or family member what you learn. Spread the word; contain the disease.