The renewed program delivers a more personalised program for women by applying risk stratification
An estimated 570 000 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018, and its incidence and mortality are particularly high in low and middle income countries.1 In Australia, the incidence of cervical cancer has plummeted since the national screening program was introduced in the early 1990s.2 More recently, the national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination program for teenage girls and boys was followed by a reduction in the proportion of women with high grade dysplasia and an increase in the age at which such pathology is detected,3 reflecting the positive health impacts of the program. The elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem and the associated premature mortality is an exciting but realistic prospect.4
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- 2. Australian Institute for Health and Welfare. Cancer in Australia 2019 (Cat No. CAN 119; Cancer series no. 123). Canberra: AIHW, 2019.
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- 4. Hall MT, Simms KT, Lew JB, et al. The projected timeframe until cervical cancer elimination in Australia: a modelling study. Lancet Public Health 2019; 4: e19–e27.
- 5. Wilson JMG, Jungner G. Principles and practice of screening for disease (Public Health Papers No. 34). Geneva: World Health Organization, 1968. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/php/WHO_PHP_34.pdf (viewed Mar 2019).
- 6. Machalek DA, Roberts JM, Garland SM, et al. Routine cervical screening by primary HPV testing: early findings in the renewed National Cervical Screening Program. Med J Aust 2019; 211: 113–119.
- 7. Velentzis LS, Smith MA, Simms KT, et al. Pathways to a cancer‐free future: a protocol for modelled evaluations to maximize the future impact of interventions on cervical cancer in Australia. Gynecol Oncol 2019; 152: 465–471.
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