To give her followers more information about cervical cancer, Vera also visited a doctor for the video about the study. “There were so many things the GP told me that I didn’t know. For example, I was not familiar with the term ‘porridge’. That is the term, I now know, that is used for the result of an abnormal Pap smear. She also told me that HPV, a form of an STD that can cause cervical cancer, can be prevented in 70 percent of cases by using a condom.”
Vera Camilla
“On the one hand, it may be that cervical cancer is sometimes underestimated. But I think that we sometimes prefer not to know whether something is wrong than to know that something is wrong,” says Vera. “After all, having a disease like cervical cancer is very serious and the studies that precede it can be disturbing. Still, it’s important to just do the research. If you are HPV positive, there are still many stages that precede cervical cancer. Your body often clears it up on its own. And if that is not the case, HPV can be remedied through various interventions.”
“If you don’t do anything with it, and it turns out later that you do have cervical cancer, you’re also much further from home. In my video you can also see that the self-test is really easy to do. From the reactions I’ve received to the video so far, it also appears that many women are surprised about that. And that in fact that is where the fear is.”
“For example, women responded who had had the invitation unopened on the table for a year, but who are now going to do the research thanks to my video. I’m glad I was able to take away some of the fear, because it’s incredibly important. That is also what I want to convey with the video: that you are worth knowing whether you are healthy or not.”
Would you like to know more about cervical cancer or the population screening? Go to population research nederland.nl/baarmoederhalskanker.
Read alsoEverything about smears and self-tests for cervical cancer population screening