Department of Health (DOH) in co-operation with Cancer Institute Foundation Inc., Cervical Cancer Prevention Network Program and Merck Sharp & Dohme Philippines has declared this month as the Cervical Cancer Awareness and Prevention Month. The objective of this awareness month is to aware people on the early detection, control and prevention of cervical cancer. The theme of the awareness month is Babae Mahalaga Ka.

According to a statistics, it was unveiled that 7,277 new cases and 3,807 deaths from cervical cancer, which is the second leading cause of death is expected to happen every year in Philippines.

Experts said that women who have had sex are at risk of cervical cancer. However, those who never had sexual intercourse may also develop with rare type of cervical cancer. An infectious agent particularly human papilloma virus (HPV) is transmitted through sexual intercourse, which is the reason of cervical cancer among women.

It was also revealed that the disease has no symptoms. However, unusual bleeding from vagina and vaginal discharge at any moment maybe signals to cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is curable if detected in nascent stage and currently it is diagnosed through Pap smear.