Although Hualien County has the lowest prevalence rates of cervical cancer in the country, it also has one of the highest mortality rates, which may be because many people don’t discover the cancer until it is too late, doctors said yesterday.
The Bureau of Health Promotion’s latest statistics show that in 2005, Hualien County’s cervical cancer rate was 8.01 for every 100,000 people, significantly lower than less rural areas.
“Although Hualien’s prevalence rate is low, it doesn’t necessarily mean fewer women have the cancer, because the statistics represent only reported cases,” said Twu Nae-fang (屠乃方), a gynecologist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital. “Many women may be sick but refuse to see a doctor.”
“Because of Hualien’s geography, the uneven distribution of medical resources and unique living environments, many women don’t have enough information and often don’t realize they have cervical cancer until it is too late,” Hualien County Deputy Commissioner Chang Chih-ming (張志明) said.
Twu urged women to have regular pap smears, and for younger women to get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Two HPV vaccines have been approved by the Department of Health and are 100 percent effective in preventing HPV strains 16 and 18 for more than four years, Twu said.
Those two strains account for about 70 percent of all cervical cancers, he said. However, because the vaccine costs about NT$3,900 per shot and is not covered by the National Health Insurance program, some women may not be able to afford it, he said.
The vaccine is given in three shots over a six-month period.
Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical firm has donated 600 vaccine doses to Hualien County for women with a family history of cervical cancer.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai