JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Federal grants have been awarded to 17 community health centers in Mississippi to improve care and ensure more women are screened for cervical cancer.
Two of those are in northeast Mississippi: Mantachie Rural Health Care in Mantachie and Access Family Health Services in Smithville.
The centers are among 810 nationwide that received grants from the Department of Health and Human Services to help them become "medical homes'' that will coordinate patients' care. DHH says patients seen in such practices get more preventive services, including cervical cancer screening.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that cervical cancer it kills more than 4,000 women a year in the United States.
The Pap test and the human papilloma virus test are used to detect pre-cancerous changes. Treating those will keep them from becoming cancers.
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