Many women not taking pap smear

NST: KUCHING: Although cervical cancer is the number two killer of women in Malaysia after breast cancer, many married women have never gone for a pap smear screening.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said yesterday a survey by the National Family Development and Population Board (NFDPB) in 2004 found that 49.4 per cent of married women in the 15 to 49 age group in the peninsula had not gone for the screening.
She said 45.2 per cent of women in Sarawak and 50.2 per cent of women in Sabah had also not done so.
Speaking at the launch of the National Pap Smear Screening Programme for Underserved Communities at Kampung Benuk, about 60km from here, Shahrizat listed out some of the excuses given by the women.
She said 34.9 per cent of respondents thought screening was unnecessary.
Another 26.3 per cent said they were too busy, while 9.5 per cent pleaded ignorance.
Shahrizat said her ministry, through the NFDPB, would collaborate with the National Family Planning Federation to conduct pap smear screening at the grassroots.
"My ministry has allocated RM486,000 for the pap smear screening programme for underserved communities throughout the country."
The programme is aimed at creating awareness of the importance of early screening to detect cervical cancer.