By Lungile Ntimba
Most deaths from cervical cancer and breast cancer among women can be preventable with earlier detection, according to Prof. Greta Dreyer, an expert in obstetrics and gynaecology from University of Pretoria (UP).
Dreyer delivered an inaugural address, titled: “Preventing Premature Cancer Death”, emphasising that despite available medical advancements such as vaccines and screenings, many women were still diagnosed late.
“Losing a South African woman means we lose part of the backbone of society,” she said in a statement.
“They are the educators and mentors, they are the entrepreneurs, the core of rural and agricultural development and the pillar of homes.”
Dreyer highlighted that millions of children relied on mothers as sole breadwinners and many families were collapsing, yet cervical cancer deaths were largely avoidable.
She said while breast cancer has more public awareness and attention, cervical cancer was nearly as common and more deadly.
According to Dreyer, this was largely due to stigma because this was an intimate disease and there were systemic barriers to screening.
“Women do not speak about their diagnosis and generally do not survive long, leading to reduced consciousness of the problem,” she said.
Dreyer’s research has revealed that globally, human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 lead to about 70% cervical cancer cases.
When she studied South African women, she discovered that this percent was smaller and that HPV35 was another very common type, particularly in women living with HIV.
Dreyer, in collaboration with international researchers and local universities, has developed PreTect SA screening test, designed to detect the eight most oncogenic HPV types in South Africa—an innovation that could prevent up to 90% of cervical cancers if widely implemented.
Dreyer also started a programme that links HPV vaccination for schoolgirls with cancer screening for mothers. She believes more public education and better access to screening can save many lives.
She said cytology-based screening methods, such as the traditional Pap smear, were difficult to sustain in under-resourced settings.
“Cytology-based screening is highly dependent on health infrastructure, repeated testing, call and recall, and thus cannot be expected to work in South Africa,” she said.
Dreyer said her team found that using simple self-tests, like tampon samples, worked just as well and was easier for women to do.
She was part of the university’s team that identified BRCA1 and BRCA2 founder mutations among Afrikaner women.
These research findings enabled targeted risk-reduction strategies such as genetic testing, preventive surgery and hormone therapy.
Dreyer’s current collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research explores personalised treatment options for aggressive forms of endometrial cancer.
“Among African women, endometrial cancer often involves the highly aggressive types, for which we lack therapeutic options,” she explained.
“This urgent need for new therapy for high grade cancer motivated us to collaborate with the CSIR drug-repurposing group.”
She said this new research was aimed at personalising therapeutic decisions by growing fresh tumour material to be tested on an individualised, personalised medicine platform.
It also seeks to identify and test unusual chemotherapeutic drugs and combinations that could lead to new drugs and new drug combinations.
“Cancer control relies on implementing the most applicable technologies in an affordable, sustainable way,” Dreyer said.
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