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. 2022 Jul 28:29:101936.
doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101936. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Breast and cervical cancer screening in the Philippines: Challenges and steps forward

Frances Dominique V Ho  1 , Ma Veronica Pia N Arevalo  1 , Patricia Therese S de Claro  1 , Luisa E Jacomina  2 , Maria Julieta V Germar  3 , Edward Christopher Dee  4 , Michelle Ann B Eala  1
Affiliations

Breast and cervical cancer screening in the Philippines: Challenges and steps forward

Frances Dominique V Ho et al. Prev Med Rep. .

Abstract

In 2020, breast and cervical cancer were the top 2 cancers among Filipino women in terms of incidence. In the Philippines, a lower-middle income country in Southeast Asia with more than 50 million women, majority of breast and cervical cancer patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, as high out-of-pocket healthcare costs, the centralization of health human resources and infrastructure in the capital, and the absence of organized national screening programs preclude access to breast and cervical cancer screening. Low health literacy and gendered sociocultural pressures among Filipino women compound these systemic challenges. The recent passage of the Universal Health Care Law and the National Integrated Cancer Control Act in the Philippines is an opportunity to reduce disparities in access to cancer screening, with implications for other low- and middle-income countries that may face parallel challenges.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Cervical cancer; Mammography; Pap smear; Philippines; Screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Edward Christopher Dee, MD is funded in part through the NIH/NCI Support Grant P30 CA008748. Maria Julieta V. Germar, MD is the chair of the Philippine Board of Gynecologic Oncology and head of the Clinical Consensus Committee of the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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