CLUW has taken the lead in making health care issues a cornerstone of its ongoing efforts to help working women lead fuller, longer and more productive lives.

Delegates to the recent CLUW convention kept that commitment alive by adopting a resolution to promote education and awareness of uterine, cervical, breast, ovarian and other cancers. The resolution also stresses the need to educate women on the benefits of annual exams and other preventive measures to safeguard their health.

Because January is Cervical Health Awareness Month, The Voice has joined CLUW in educating union members—men and women alike—about the human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV is transmitted through genital contact, most often during vaginal and anal sex. Since HPV usually causes no symptoms, most men and women can get HPV—and pass it on—without realizing it.

Currently, there is no test designed or approved to find HPV in men. The only approved HPV test on the market is for women, for use as part of cervical cancer screening.

Because cervical cancer is almost always caused by HPV, the best way for women to protect against it is to get screened by a health care provider. There are two types of tests that can be used: A Pap test, which looks for cell changes in the cervix that may lead to cervical cancer; and the HPV test, which determines if a person has HPV and the risk of developing cervical cancer. An HPV test can be used with a Pap test in women 30 and older or as a follow-up to inconclusive Pap test results in women under 30.

The HPV test is a covered benefit for UUPers if it is performed during a routine exam.

There is also an HPV vaccine for women and girls between the ages of nine and 26, said Carolyn Jacobson, director of CLUW’s Cervical Cancer Prevention Works program. UUP members enrolled in the Empire Plan can get the cancer-preventing vaccine Gardasil for their eligible dependents up to age 19 under the pediatric immunization program; eligible young women ages 19 to 26 are covered under the adult immunization program.

“There is no reason why union women should get cervical cancer,” Jacobson said. “More than 86 percent of union members have health insurance and most health plans today cover the Pap test and the Pap and HPV tests for women over 30.”

— Karen L.?Mattison