The Jamaica Cancer Society will this month be increasing its advocacy on cervical cancer, a form of cancer which has a higher per capita incidence of death among women here than their African American counterparts.

April is being observed as Cancer Awareness Month.

Despite being preventable, thousands of Jamaican women have not been doing Pap smear tests which would allow for early detection and treatment.

While the overall trend is encouraging, cervical cancer remains the second leading cancer in Jamaican women. Data from the Jamaica Cancer Registry give an incidence rate of 19 per 100,000 for the period 1998-2002.

This compares to an incidence rate of 12.4 per 100,000 among African American women in the United States and 9.2 per 100,000 among whites, for the period 1996-2000. The Jamaican Demographic Statistics 2005 report indicates that 138 women died from the disease in 2004.

Earl Jarrett, chairman of the Cancer Society, said the continued loss of life, as well as the loss of productive years of women due to cervical cancer, must be addressed.

"It is totally unacceptable that women continue to die or have the productive years of their lives affected by this easily preventable disease," he said.

Pap smear campaign

The 'Do It Now' campaign will especially target women who have never had a Pap smear done.

As part of the campaign, the society has designated Fridays of this month as "Do it Now Days", with special package for women having their first Pap smear.