Get examined during National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer in women worldwide, yet it is almost always preventable – with the Pap test, the HPV test and the HPV vaccine. That's what the Pearl of Wisdom Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer wants women to know – and share with their mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.

Starting in January, National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, this coalition of leading women's health advocates is asking women to "Take the Pearl Pledge," in which they commit to: schedule their annual gynecologic examination, wear a Pearl of Wisdom in support of cervical cancer prevention, and encourage 5 friends to do the same. The campaign aims to secure 4,210 pledges – the same number of U.S. women who were projected to die of cervical cancer in 2010 – by Mother's Day. Women can participate at www.PearlofWisdom.us/Pledge.

"No woman should die of or lose her fertility to cervical cancer," said Tamika Felder, cervical cancer survivor and founder of the nonprofit organization, Tamika and Friends (www.tamikaandfriends.org), the lead U.S. partner in the Pearl of Wisdom campaign. "Almost every case of cervical cancer can now be prevented with the Pap test, the HPV test and the HPV vaccine. We want women to know this, to ask for the prevention tools that are appropriate for them, and to help us get the word out to other women by wearing their pearl and starting the conversation."

Following is what every woman should know:

• Girls and young women: Ask your healthcare provider about the HPV vaccine, which protects against the two types of HPV (human papillomavirus) that cause the majority of cervical cancers. The vaccines are recommended for girls 11 to 12 years old, and are approved for girls and young women up to age 26. Even women who have been vaccinated will still need to be screened.
• Women age 21 or older:  Get the Pap test, which detects abnormal cells that can lead to cervical cancer.
• Women age 30 or older:  Get the Pap test and the HPV test together as part of routine cervical cancer screening. The HPV test detects the virus that causes cervical cancer, identifying those women at increased risk who will need to be monitored more closely.

"In 2010, more than 12,000 women were expected to be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and more than 4,000 women were expected to die of this disease," said Deborah Arrindell, vice president of health policy for the American Social Health Association (www.ashastd.org) a partner in the Pearl of Wisdom campaign. "We have a unique opportunity, however, to stamp out cervical cancer because we know what causes it – HPV infection – and we have the tools available to prevent it."

SOURCE Tamika and Friends