I find it very rewarding to reach out to the women, give them the information, and they develop the trust for you to conduct tests on them. And then, when their lives have been saved or when they are treated early, their lives are prolonged. That is a rewarding part of the work that I do.

My name is Karolina Tamani, I’m originally from Kadavu in the southern part of Fiji and I’m 62 years old. My role as a nurse midwife at the Fiji Cancer Society is specifically to conduct clinical screening for cervical cancer, breast cancers and also to conduct awareness in the community regarding the prevention, the symptoms of cervical cancer.

A lot of misconceptions make it difficult for the women to access, to come forth to have a Pap smear done. For screening, misconceptions include that the experience is painful, and that the instruments used for the tests cause cancer which is definitely not true.

I find it necessary to reach out to the community because the women there face a lot of challenges in life. Information may not reach them to empower them in seeking care. So, reaching out to the community is very important in order to be successful in reducing cervical cancer morbidity.

I can still remember when we did an outreach in the Tailevu Highlands. Women were given the information, they were very shy initially and not interested in screening. But eventually, with more information and reassurance about the process of testing, they came forward. There, we detected twin sisters who both had positive results. The rewarding part of it is that we saw them going through the referral process until they got their treatment done. I will remember that because it was an experience whereby women were saved from something they didn’t know they had.