East Worthing and Shoreham MP, Tim Loughton, has called for greater measures to help prevent cervical cancer in his constituency, including a strategy to prevent continuously declining rates of uptake for cervical screening, and continued promotion of HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination amongst teenage girls.
This week (25th – 31st January) is Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, which aims to raise awareness of the causes and symptoms of cervical cancer and improve prevention efforts.
Eight women each day in the UK are diagnosed with cervical cancer, with three women losing their lives to the disease. The latest figures on cervical screening (smear test) uptake in England, published in November 2014 by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), showed that the numbers of women taking up their cervical screening invitation has dropped, resulting in over one million women missing out on a potentially lifesaving test in 2013/14. The statistics showed that screening uptake has fallen below 78% for the first time in over 20 years.
This is of particular concern for two key age groups. For women aged 25-29 who are screened every three and a half years, 36.7 per cent did not attend screening – this means over one in three young women are potentially ignoring their first screening invitation. For those aged 50-64 invited every five years, 77% (a drop of 0.5 per cent on last year) attended screening. Also particularly worrying is the uptake for the 55-59 age group (74.8%) and 60-64 age group (73.2 %).
HPV vaccination offers protection against the high risk strains of HPV that cause 70% of cervical cancers. The latest figures from Public Health England showed that 28,000 girls aged 12-13 chose not to receive any of the three doses of the vaccine required for the best protection possible. Although the fact that the vaccine can now be given in two doses should increase uptake, it is important that girls understand that cervical screening will continue to be essential, as the vaccine only protects against 70% of cervical cancers.
In West Sussex specifically, 66.3% of 25-29 year olds attended cervical screening within the last 3 years (compared to a national average of 63.3%). For 50-64 year olds, who are screened every five years, 76.6% attended their appointment (with 77% being the national average). In total, 21.2% of women aged 25-64 have not been screened within the last five years. While it is positive to see that the figures for 25-29 year olds are above the national average, there are still a significant number of women who are not attending screening appointments.
For HPV vaccination uptake, 90% of 12-13 year olds in West Sussex received at least one dose, with 89.8% receiving two doses and 87.1% receiving all three. These figures are significantly below the national average for England (91.1%, 89.8% and 86.7% respectively). Optimum protection against the high risk strains of HPV is only achieved through receiving all of the suggested doses, which was three at the time covered by these figures. The vaccine is now available in two doses, which should increase overall uptake.