Women encouraged to participate pro-actively in the cervical cancer prevention programme
Every year in January, cervical cancer prevention events are organised throughout the world and Europe. The Health Insurance Funds also call on women to being more pro-active in taking care of their health – not only in January, but throughout the year, as well as to remember the importance of preventing this oncological disease.
In Lithuania, the cervical cancer prevention programme has been taking place for 17 years. It allows all women aged 25–59 who are covered by the compulsory health insurance to have a free screening for cervical cancer every three years.
"Prevention programmes are designed to detect the disease as early as possible so that the treatment can be successful. The number of women who come to have a free screening for cervical cancer has remained stable for many years. Every year, over 100,000 women participate in this programme. Unfortunately, the number of participants was much lower last year. According to preliminary data, slightly over 88,000 women had a free screening for cervical cancer in 2020. This was affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Such data are worrying, since there are 8 times more women of this age who are enrolled in primary health care institutions – 736,000," said Rasa Savičiūtė, Chief Specialist of the Service Competence and Control Division at the National Health Insurance Fund under the Ministry of Health (NHIF).
According to her, the preliminary data show that over 182,000 women received invitations to check under this programme in 2020, but barely half of them used the opportunity. In total over 283,000 women received the service (where a cytological sample is taken and its results are evaluated) at least once since the start of the programme in 2004 until the end of 2019.
"Cervical cancer remains one of the most common causes of death for women. Therefore, such screening is crucial in order to detect pre-cancerous diseases as early as possible. The target age in this as well as in other prevention programmes is set purposefully, because it is at this age that the disease occurs most often, while the applied screening according to evidence-based medicine data is the most effective," said Savičiūtė. However, according to her, it is important to know that if a woman's age is not within the range set for the programme but she still has complaints about her health, she should also see her GP. Depending on the woman's age, the state of her health, medical history and risk factors, the GP will prescribe the necessary examinations in accordance with their competence and, if necessary, they will refer the woman to a specialist doctor.
Funding for the cervical cancer programme has been increasing every year. In 2019, 2.05 million euros were allocated for its implementation from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) (5% more than in 2018 and 20% more than in 2017). In 2020, the funding was 2.48 million euros.
Researchers have shown that one of the key risk factors for cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The best preventive measure to protect women from the virus and at the same time reduce the risk of getting the disease is a vaccine against HPV. As a reminder, since September 2016 in Lithuania all girls aged 11 are vaccinated against the HPV infection free of charge. According to the NHIF data, 18,500 girls were vaccinated against it in 2020.
A survey of the Lithuanian population, conducted on behalf of the NHIF in July 2020, showed that people recognise the benefit of CHIF-funded disease prevention programmes and use them quite actively. The best known programmes are the cervical (for 66% of respondents) and breast (for 65% of respondents) cancer prevention programmes. 61% of respondents have heard of the prostate cancer programme and the cardiovascular disease programme, and 58% knew about the colon cancer prevention programme.
The survey also showed that residents quite willingly participate in the said programmes. 26% of respondents participated in the cervical cancer programme, 16% – in the cardiovascular programme, 14% – in the breast cancer programme, 11% – in the prostate cancer programme, and 10% – in the colon cancer prevention programme.
Currently, there are 5 prevention programmes where people can get checked free of charge: 4 cancer prevention programmes (prostate, colon, cervical and breast cancer), and a cardiovascular disease prevention programme.
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Your questions are welcome by email [email protected] or phone: local (8 5) 232 2222, international +370 5 232 2222.
Last updated: 26-05-2021
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