the Cervical cancer causes nearly 1000 deaths per year in France. In an attempt to reduce the number of deaths, health authorities recommend that all women aged 25 to 65 be screened every 3 years, which can detect pre-cancerous lesions and prevent the onset of cancer ( or to treat it).
But in terms of cervical cancer screening, the situation is very heterogeneous in France. “The overseas departments generally have less screening coverage than in metropolitan France and cervical cancer is then among the most frequent cancers in women. This low coverage is shared with certain metropolitan departments of the sometimes due to their low demographics in gynecologists, general practitioners or anatomo-cytopathologists “we learn in the weekly Epidemiological Bulletin of theNational Institute for Health Surveillance (Invs).
The rate of women screened rose from 60% to 73.2%
To encourage women to get tested, an organized screening operation was set up in 13 French departments. All women aged 25 to 65 who did not have smear in the past 3 years, have received a letter urging them to get tested.
The first results are very encouraging because the screening rate has gone from 60% on average to 73.2%. In total, nearly 280,000 women have screened that they probably would not have done, which argues in favor of organized screening. “This organized screening strategy is cost-effective because it targets women who do not get screened” insists Dr. Viguier, director of the public health department at the National Cancer Institute.
This will delight the experts of the Haute Autorité de santé who also plead and since 2010, for the implementation of organized screening. Now it remains to put it in place.
