The roundtable was opened by MP Dr Vlado Babic, member of the Parliamentary Group on Reproductive Health, Gender Issues and HIV. He shared the devastating data on the annual death rate of women suffering from cervical cancer. About 32 thousand women die of cervical cancer in Asia and Europe. Cancer is dangerous and deadly, but it can be monitored and in as much as 80% of cases, curable. Prevention plays the biggest role here, he said, asking what parliamentarians can do. “The MPs can act on and discuss the matter within their respective committees, create policies through campaigns and make sure these women’s voices are heard”, he concluded.

Dragana Stojanovic, Executive Director of the Association for Sexual and Reproductive Health of Serbia, said that, by affecting women, cervical cancer also affects the primary and secondary family. When a woman is put in a situation where she cannot treat this preventable cancer, then she cannot exercise her fundamental human rights. That is why it is important to raise awareness of cervical cancer so that we can better fight it, said Stojanovic.

Health and Family Committee Chairperson Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic said she and the Committee members are pleased to join the Parliamentary Group and discuss the illness. “Women do not take care of their health when it comes to breast, colon and cervical cancer, which are the most common causes of death. We can do so much better by ourselves and ask all the experts, institutions and non-governmental sector to help us pay more attention at all educational levels to our health”, said Djukic Dejanovic. She also said that there should be no barriers between institutions, committees, MPs and non-governmental sectors when discussing this issue, we should all join efforts and organise events like this one more often so that their conclusions could find practical application.

Prof. Dr Vesna Kesic and Dr Bojana Milosevic spoke of the importance of organising centralised cito-laboratories, stressing the importance of cervix screenings which would raise women’s awareness and make them get medical checks. The oldest and most common early-detection test can discover changes in the cervical cells before any symptoms emerge. Regular early-detection tests i.e. screenings can reduce the risk of cancer up to 80%. Primary prevention means vaccination against human papillomavirus, education and raising awareness of risky behaviours. Secondary prevention means organised early detection programmes.

Provincial Secretary for Youth and Sport Marinika Tepic spoke of the importance of educating young people about reproductive health and project “Health education on reproductive health”. She said the objective of reproductive education is prevention, that reproductive health is very important and that these should be discussed with students. “Students should learn about sexual protection, risky behaviour, sexually transmitted diseases and when they should start having sex”, said Tepic.

Prof. Dr Predrag Sazdanovic spoke on the behalf of the Ministry of Health, saying the problem requires patience and persistence. “Every year, we lose 30-35 thousand people. 20% of those deaths are caused by cancer. As a Ministry, we have to address fertility, mortality and aging. Cancer screening is necessary so that we can face something dangerous and unacceptable – the fact that so many die of breast, cervical and colon cancer”, concluded Prof. Dr Sazdanovic.