Pearl of Wisdom Campaign

In the waning hours of January 2010, I want to bring attention to the Pearl of Wisdom Campaign.

This being the last day of National Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, I encourage you to please spend two minutes reviewing (or learning) key facts about the prevention of cervical cancer in 2010.

One easy way is to visit the website for the global Pearl of Wisdom campaign.

On the website, you'll read about the "Pearl Pledge."  The organization behind the website has set a goal of getting 4,070 pledges before Mother’s Day on May 9, 2010.

"Why 4070?" you might ask. Because that is the number of women who were expected to die from cervical cancer in 2009. 

4070 is a low number when talking about how many people would benefit from taking the Pearl Pledge.

4070 is a number that is way too high when it comes to lives lost from a preventable disease that is also easy to detect at a pre-cancerous state and at an early stage of cancer.  

So if not for yourself, do it for the women you love: Talk about taking the Pearl Pledge.

Comments

[online consultation]

Actually thanks for the vaccine. It will help many woman to prevent this.

[Jeanne M Hannah]

Wendy, thank you for calling this important topic and challenge to your readers' attention.

I have been writing about HPV for over a year on my blog. At least 80 percent of women will acquire a genital HPV infection by the age of 50. There are approximately 15 oncogenic HPV types; types 16, 18, 45 and 31 are responsible for 80 percent of all cervical cancers worldwide.

Several articles on my blog should be read and passed along to teen-aged daughters and friends:

HPV | Changing teenagers' futures in a heartbeat http://tinyurl.com/ygos2cu

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is more prevalent than we thought http://tinyurl.com/ygczlb9 and http://tinyurl.com/ygczlb9

STDs | One in 4 teenage girls has one http://tinyurl.com/ygyst9x and http://tinyurl.com/ygyst9x

Teenagers and oral sex | The prevalence, the dangers, some safeguards http://tinyurl.com/2pbyqh and http://tinyurl.com/2pbyqh

[Wendy S. Harpham, MD]

Dear Jeanne,
Thanks for sharing the links to further reading. With hope, Wendy