City's Southern Clinics Help Prevent Cervical Cancer among Working Women

As the modern day woman has to juggle between the responsibilities of having a family and working a full day job, she often tends to not make sufficient time to look after her own health. Therefore nurses at 11 of the City's clinics will make themselves available for one Saturday at each clinic to help prevent the most common form of cancer amongst women, namely cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer amongst South African women, but is preventable by just having regular visits to the clinic, as changes in cervical cells can be detected at a very early stage through cervical smears. If these changes in cells are not detected at an early stage and are left untreated, they may become cancerous.

It is therefore crucial that women make regular visits to their clinics for check-ups. Each of the 11 clinics in the Southern Health Sub-district will be open for one Saturday in the coming months, to assist the working moms who don't have time during the week to visit the clinic.

On the open Saturday, nurses will be available to screen for cervical cancer and to perform breast examinations, for all women who are 30 years and over and who have not had a cervical smear in the past ten years.

This service will be free of charge, and HIV testing will also be available.

The schedule for the clinics is as follows:

The City's Health Department encourages women to prioritise their own health and to make use of this free opportunity. Besides these opportunities for free screenings, women are also entitled to three free cervical smears at their nearest clinic (one free screen every ten years).

Interested women can contact their nearest clinic, or can phone Brenda van Niekerk, Head: Personal Primary Health Care and Programmes, at tel 021 710 9383 or cell 082 921 7361.

Issued by:
Communication Department
City of Cape Town