Key Statistics
Detailed figures on cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening in Australia.
- Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and curable of all cancers. Since the introduction of the National Cervical Screening Program, the mortality from cervical cancer has halved.
- 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.
- In 2009-2010, 3,792,517 Australian women had Pap smears. Of these 3,635,929 (95.9%) were in the target age group 20-69 years.
- The two-year participation rate for the National Cervical Screening Program was 57.4% of women in the target age group in 2009 to 2010.
- The three-year participation rate was 70.2% and the five-year participation rate was 83.3% for the same age group.
- In 2010 the National Cervical Screening Program detected 20,104 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 778 new cases in Australia in 2008 compared with 1,092 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 3.9 deaths per 100,000 women in 1991 to 1.9 deaths per 100,000 women in 2007.
Sources
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cervical screening in Australia 2009-2010 (October 2012)For further information contact your doctor, health centre or family planning clinic, or phone 13 15 56 (for the cost of a local call).
Page currency, Latest update: 03 November, 2012