The director of the only cervical cancer screening programme in Ireland has called for the introduction of a national screening programme.
Dr Marian O’Reilly, who heads up the pilot screening programme in the Mid West region, said a nationwide programme was the only way to reduce the 78 deaths each year in Ireland from cervical cancer.
Dr O’Reilly said death rates could be cut by 80%.
She said Irish women fared less well than their British counterparts, where a national programme was launched in 1988. Research has shown that the incidence of cervical cancer among women in Britain fell substantially after its introduction.
The average onset worldwide is at about 25 years, with a rapid rise between the ages of 30-40, and rising rapidly again at 44. But it takes up to 15 years to develop, so regular smear tests reduce the risk of progression of the disease.
80,000 women in the Mid West have been offered free smears over the five-year pilot programme. A failsafe system operates that tracks a woman with abnormal results to ensure she attends. And they receive further investigation or treatment at the colposcopy clinic free of charge if they need it.
