Health Issues > Cervical Screening and Cervical Cancer > Changes to Cervical Screening
A voice for women's health
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Changes to Cervical ScreeningMay 2016 Many women’s health groups are understandably anxious at the thought of the NSU making changes to New Zealand’s excellent screening programme, and question whether the HPV test will actually be of much benefit to those women who are currently not being regularly screened.New Zealand currently has one of the best cervical screening programmes in the world. It was established in 1990 in the wake of the Cartwright Inquiry into the treatment of cervical cancer at National Women’s Hospital. Since then the numbers of women who get cervical cancer and the number of women who die from it have reduced by 60%.3 MOH statistics reveal that there are now 150 – 160 women who are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and about 50 women who die from it. espite the serious reservations that continue to be raised about the NSU’s (National Screening Unit) plan to change the primary cervical screening test from the current liquid-based cytology test to primary HPV (human papillomavirus) screening, the NSU recently announced that it will make the switch to HPV primary screening in 2018.1, 2 Maori womenWomen who are unscreened and under-screened feature highly in those diagnosed with cervical cancer, and Maori women are disproportionately represented in these statistics. Maori women have a registration rate for cervical cancer twice that of non-Maori women, and a mortality rate about 2.5 times that of non-Maori.4 Need for adequate informationThere are in fact several issues that give cause for concern. One of the most important ones is the information the NSU produces for people about its screening programmes. The AWHC and others have protested for some years about the changes needed to the pamphlets and booklets about breast cancer screening. Women need to know about the risks associated with breast cancer screening which include over-diagnosis and over treatment. The NSU has been extremely reluctant to include such information and when it does it is unacceptably brief and downplays the risks... Use of international statisticsLikewise, when discussing cervical screening the Ministry of Health and the NSU usually begin by announcing that around 275,000 women die from cervical cancer each year and continue to provide international statistics, but do not mention what the actual figures are for women living in New Zealand. Of course, NZ health agencies are not alone in doing this, but that does not make it acceptable to set the scene for discussions about proposed changes to cervical screening by overdramatising the incidence of cervical cancer in this way. Benefits and risks of the HPV testHopefully these resources will all be updated prior to the introduction of primary HPV screening and the important facts emphasised, eg how the body nearly always clears HPV infections without the need for colposcopy or treatment. Women who are identified as having one of the high-risk types of HPV are particularly vulnerable in terms of making informed decisions about the risks and benefits of further investigations. New websiteThe March issue of the NSU newsletter features an article about the new consumer-friendly website that the NSU is developing on cervical and breast screening which is due to be rolled out in mid-2016.8 The elephant in the roomThe elephant in the room is the influence of big pharma. At the NSU/MOH consultation meeting the AWHC attended in October last year there were more representatives from Roche in the room than consumer representatives. References1. www.nsu.govt.nz/health-professionals/national-cervical-screening-programme/primary-hpv-screening |