The Association for Family Planning (APF) defended today that screening for sexually transmitted infections in primary health care should be universal.
«Access to some [diagnostic] tests should be universalized, which at the moment already takes place in some health centers», said Mara Carvalho, family doctor and member of the APF board, who spoke to the Lusa agency regarding International Women's Day , marked on March 8th.
The latest annual epidemiological reports from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), released today, reveal that sexually transmitted infections such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis have soared in Portugal and in Europe, mainly affecting young people aged 20 to 24.
Mara Carvalho said she has “many doubts” about whether cases are truly increasing or whether this increase is due to more diagnostic tests being carried out.
«If we are going to study more, if we are going to do more tests, it is natural that we will detect more infections», he maintained.
For the doctor, it is also necessary to focus on prevention, which has to do with education, improving what already exists, such as sexual education in schools.
«The school is a fundamental partner (…) but adults also need training and collaboration with some NGOs [non-governmental organizations], such as the APF, it would also be important to have more access to education for sexual and reproductive health in general», he defended.
The national leader of the Women's Democratic Movement (MDM), Fátima Amaral, said, in turn, that "most public schools do not have a space, nor do they have people prepared" to broadcast and dialogue with young people about issues they are facing. setbacks, particularly in sexually transmitted diseases.
Fátima Amaral also highlighted other MDM concerns related to women's difficulties in accessing healthcare, particularly older women, who are “often not talked about”.
According to the person responsible, in relation to this group there are two areas of concern, pointing out as the first the specialty of Geriatrics, «which practically does not exist in primary health care and is extremely important to also prepare women for aging».
The second axis is related to “the huge deficit” of specialist consultations and multidisciplinary teams to accompany women at this stage of life when they suffer from many diseases and have to be monitored, he highlighted.
Another “big problem” indicated by Fátima Amaral is related to the fact that “a very significant percentage” of women who are invited to undergo breast cancer screening do not attend.
As reasons for this situation, the person responsible pointed out the fact that awareness campaigns must be carried out with «the dynamics and with due guidance» in order to take into account that women work.
«If the screenings are not carried out close to the companies where they work or their homes» and if there is no «timely disclosure» of the place where the screening will be carried out, the woman is then unable to leave the company to do so, highlighted.
Regarding family planning, he highlighted the fact that the SNS distributes the most modern and most appropriate contraceptive methods as a positive thing, but said that there are “shortcomings in schedules” in many health centers or there are no appointments at all due to a lack of health professionals.
"As it doesn't exist, there is a problem here: young people have sexual intercourse, they haven't used contraception, and then they want emergency contraception and often have to go to the pharmacy, because the health centers at that time don't have it", he said, noting that the price is not accessible to all young people.
In short, Fátima Amaral said that, in the case of women's health, «there have been immeasurable achievements» that were «the result of the actions of health professionals and women».
«But taking into account what was the disinvestment in the National Health Service and feeding the private sector with the money that should be invested in the SNS, there is, and there have been, especially over the last 15 years, major setbacks in access to health care in relation to women's specificities», he maintained.
For the MDM leader, it is necessary to continue talking about the problems, «complaining and telling the next deputies who will be elected to the Assembly of the Republic to respect women's rights in the area of health».
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