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Fatima Bulla Sports Reporter
The Zimbabwe senior women national team players will today be screened for cervical cancer at Belvedere Medical Centre in a campaign meant to bring awareness on the disease to the community. The Mighty Warriors will take a brief break from camp in preparation for their African Women Championships second leg tie in Zambia next week to take part in the screening programme.

They will take part in an awareness march from Rainbow Towers to the clinic in Belvedere this morning at 11am and, thereafter, they will be voluntarily screened of cervical cancer.

Clinical director of Belvedere Medical Clinic, Simba Makuni, said the programme was meant to raise awareness of the disease.
“The Mighty Warriors are role models for women in our communities and if they take the initiative other women will follow suit.
“Cervical cancer constitutes 33 percent of all cancers in women, meaning one in every three women has it.

“The reason for our drive is that it is the only cancer we can prevent as it has a pre-cancerous state before it develops into cancer,” Makuni said.
Makuni said cervical cancer affects both young and old women.

While women used to be screened through pap smear whose results needed to be taken to and from the laboratory for observation, Dr Makuni said a new system — the Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid — will be used.

“The Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid is convenient in that women will be able to be screened, get their results and if need be treated on the spot. This is more convenient compared to the pap smear which required a longer process involving various medical experts,” Dr Makuni said.
Women Football boss Miriam Sibanda, commended the initiative by Belvedere Medical Clinic.

“This is part of what we were saying during the election that we want our women footballers to thrive. They can do so technically by training but they cannot play if they are unhealthy.

“This move for women footballers to be screened helps in raising awareness and how we can thrive in our chosen careers as women. It is a critical gender issue which is usually not talked about but it affects our participation in sport,” Sibanda said.