Silent killer of the night: a feasibility study of an outreach well-women clinic for cervical cancer screening in female sex workers in Hong Kong.

Abstract

In many resource-poor countries, there are hardly any outreach well-women clinics for cervical cancer screening in women in general, let alone for female sex-workers. Yet, this study found abnormal results, i.e. central intraepthelial neoplasia (CIN) in 9.8% of the 235 women tested. There is a major gap in the provision of reproductive health services to the female population. This outreach model would be a great service to women since the detection of cervical cancer screening services should be taken in areas where they live and are related with. The potential implications of this study would be the early detection and treatment of the cancerous lesions through outreach clinics. This would be suitable to the other sex workers who are otherwise unreachable. I put forward that this is cheaper and therefore more cost-effective; it will also prolong the quality of life for the affected woman.