WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A viral post features women's health advice from two hospitals.
OUR VERDICT
False. The hospitals did not issue the advice.
AAP FACTCHECK - A fake health warning has gone viral in Papua New Guinea, with hundreds of thousands of views in recent weeks.
A Facebook post, shared by a PNG-based account, is captioned "MATURED MINDS ONLY!!!", followed by various unsubstantiated claims and advice about women's health.
Experts have confirmed the advice has no scientific basis.
The post's caption reads: "Please let your wife know about this, this is a serious caution from medical practitioners [LUTH] to all female beings be it infant, baby girl, ladies, mothers."
It includes several claims about women's health, including "Cancer of the vagina is all over", stipulating "please avoid washing your vagina with soap, wash with only water, there is a particular chemical in soap generally that is very dangerous and possibly causes cancer of the vagina".
The caption goes on to claim 56 girls died using particular menstrual products and advises women not to use "One Single Pad For The Whole Day Because Of The Chemical Used in Ultra Napkins Which Converts Liquid into Gel".
"It Causes Cancer in Bladder & Uterus," it continues, "So Please Try To Use Cotton Made Pads. And if You Are Using Ultra Pads, Please Change it Within Five Hours Per Day At least. If The Time is Prolonged The Blood Becomes Green & The Fungus Formed Gets inside The Uterus & Body."
Variations of the claims have been spreading online for several years and the current version appears to be a composite of some older posts.
The post credits the medical information to "Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)" and "Tata Cancer Hospital".
In Nigeria, there is both a state-owned Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, known as LASUTH, and a Lagos University Teaching Hospital, known as LUTH - the wording in the post appears to have mixed the two institutions.
AAP FactCheck reached out to both for comment but did not get a response.
LUTH responded to African journalists for a Dubawa fact check in 2021, with Dr Wasiu Adeyemo saying the message about women's health and cancer was not from them.
A search of all LASUTH's official communications found no evidence it has issued any such warnings.
There is a Tata Memorial Hospital (or Centre) in Mumbai, India, that is sometimes called Tata Cancer Hospital.
CS Pramesh, the director of Tata Memorial, told AAP FactCheck the advice did not come from his organisation.
"I would like to reiterate that the advice shown has not originated from Tata Memorial," Dr Pramesh said, "and also has no scientific basis, and should be labelled clearly as fake news."
The Tata Memorial Hospital previously responded to a Snopes fact check in 2013, saying it knew nothing of the claims about menstrual pads causing cancer or 56 deaths.
Fact Crescendo also debunked the Indian hospital claim in 2018, as did the New Indian Express in 2017.
AAP FactCheck also put the various claims to Cancer Council Australia.
A spokesperson said they were not aware of any evidence for the claims listed in this post.
Gynaecological oncology expert Neville Hacker, founder of the Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation (AGCF), also said the health claims were not factual.
"The information currently circulating on social media in PNG, and provided to the AGCF, is not based on fact, and the AGCF strongly refutes the claims made about women's health and cancers," Professor Hacker said in a statement.
The Cancer Council highlighted that cervical screening and HPV vaccinations are evidence-based measures effective at reducing cervical cancer in women.
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