The number of newly diagnosed cervical cancer patients in Hong Kong has jumped by 30 per cent in the past decade despite a citywide vaccination programme in schools, with experts urging women to have regular screenings.
Gynaecologist Hextan Ngan Yuen-sheung said on Wednesday that there had been an increase in cervical cancer in women in the past decade, reversing a downward trend since the 1980s.
While the number of cervical cancer patients over the age of 65 had decreased, more young women were getting diagnosed in recent years, Ngan said.
Between 2018 and 2022, the rate of cervical cancer in women aged 20 to 44 stood at 8.94 per 100,000 women, higher than the 7.72 per 100,000 women between 2003 and 2007.
“That shows a significant increase of 15.8 per cent,” Ngan said. “Most of these women are pillars of their family and prioritise their children’s health, but if they are diagnosed, it would affect their lives greatly and their children might lose their mothers.”
More than 95 per cent of cervical cancer cases are caused by HPV infection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
