Facts and Key Statistics

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The National Cervical Screening Program

• The National Cervical Screening Program was introduced in Australia in 1991, and is a joint health initiative of the Australian and state and territory governments. It recommends and encourages women to have Pap smears every two years.
• The Program aims to reduce illness and deaths from cervical cancer, in a cost-effective manner through an organised approach to screening.
• Cervical screening services are primarily provided by general practitioners with funding through Medicare. Services are also provided at community or women’s health centres, family planning clinics or sexual health clinics.
• The Program is supported by the Screening Subcommittee of the Australian Population Health Development Principal Committee, which reports to the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Membership comprises Australian and state and territory government representatives and a New Zealand Government representative.

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Cervical screening in Australia

• Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and curable of all cancers. It is the eighteenth most common cause of cancer mortality in Australian women, dropping from eighth place since the introduction of the Program.
• All women who have ever had sex need to have regular Pap smears, including those who no longer have sex. Women should have their first Pap smear around age 18 to 20 or a year or two after first having sex, whichever is the later and to continue throughout their life until age 70. At 70, a woman’s general practitioner may advise that it is safe to stop having Pap smears if previous smears have been normal.
• Women who have any unusual symptoms, such as unexpected bleeding, discharge or pain, should see their general practitioner, even if their last Pap smear was normal.
• A Pap smear every two years can prevent the most common form of cervical cancer in up to 90% of cases and is the best protection against cervical cancer.
• The revised National Health and Medical Council (NHMRC) Screening to prevent cervical cancer: guidelines for the management of asymptomatic women with screen detected abnormalities were approved by the NHMRC in June 2005 and are being implemented from 3 July 2006.
• Each state and territory has a Pap test register which maintains, with women’s consent, a confidential record of Pap smear results. Registers provide a valuable, voluntary and confidential backup system to remind women when Pap smears are overdue. Australian registers are required to meet high standards.
• Health professionals play an important role in encouraging women to have a Pap smear. Even if a woman is embarrassed about having a Pap smear, research has shown that most women will accept their general practitioner's advice about having one.

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Key statistics

In 2005-2006, 3,505,978 Australian women had Pap smears. Of these 3,452,092 (98.5%) were in the target age group 20-69 years.

• The two-year participation rate for the National Cervical Screening Program was 60.6% of women in the target age group in 2005-2006.
• The three-year participation rate was 73.1% and the five-year participation rate was 85.9% for the same age group.
• In 2006 the National Cervical Screening Program detected 14,396 women in the target age group with high-grade abnormalities.
• The number of new cases of cervical cancer in Australia has continued to decline. There were 718 new cases in Australia in 2004 compared with 1,091 detected in 1991, at the start of the organised screening program.
• The age-standardised mortality rate from cervical cancer has more than halved since the start of the Program, from 4.0 deaths per 100,000 women in 1991 to 1.9 deaths per 100,000 women in 2005.
• The risk of cervical cancer increases with age.

Sources:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cervical screening in Australia 2005-2006 (May 2008)
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2006 (June 2007)