Coordinator of the Ministry of Health's Surveillance Working Team, Dr. Triya Novita Dinihari, said screening to detect Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is not only to maintain women's health but also helps maintain the welfare of families and children who support their growth and development.
"Actually, the child is definitely affected, how we imagine the child will grow up, receive affection, how he/she will want to confide that his/her mother is sick, this should be our turning point as to why we have to do screening," said Dini in a discussion on cervical cancer screening.
Dini said that cervical cancer and breast cancer are non-communicable diseases that lurk in Indonesian women with the 4th highest number of sufferers in the world (6.9 percent) and the 2nd in Indonesia (17.8 percent) based on Globocan 2022 data.
Mostly, Dini said, women in Indonesia are still reluctant to undergo HPV screening because of shame and discomfort when samples are taken by doctors or midwives. This needs to be eliminated so that HPV screening coverage in Indonesia can be even and prevent cancer malignancy in the future.