This year women aged 50-60 years on St. Eustatius are encouraged to participate in the cervical cancer screening program. 49 women have already been screened in the first round. From 29 August until 2 September, the second round of screening will take place. The cervical cancer screening is the first of three screening programs that was started on St. Eustatius and is conducted by the Public Health Prevention Clinic in collaboration with the St.
Eustatius Health Care Foundation and RIVM.
Benefits for women
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women globally. Thanks to the cervical cancer screening program on HPV (human papillomavirus) precancerous stages of the illness can be detected in an earlier stage, making the disease fairly treatable.
Doctor Courtar, OBGYN specialist, expresses, “The thought of testing for cancer might be scary. But it’s important to know that in a normal population, an abnormal PAP smear takes on average 10 to 15 years before it develops into cervical cancer. So by testing now and detecting abnormalities now in an early stage, I can save a life.”
Thanks to the good cooperation between RIVM, Public Health Prevention Clinic and the St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation, the cervical cancer screening will now be structurally executed. This systemic approach will contribute to health benefits for the people of St. Eustatius.
Second round to start on 29 August 2022
The goal is to provide all women of St. Eustatius between the ages of 30 and 60 the opportunity to participate and be screened. This year women between the ages of 50 and 60 years are invited to participate. Women who have not received their invitation yet and fall under the age category can also make an appointment themselves. This can be done by calling the Public Health Prevention Clinic at +599 318 2891 or Shanna Mercera-Gibbs at
+599 318 5147 between 8.00 AM and 05.00 PM.
