National Cervical Screening Program

In Australia, screening for cervical cancer was introduced in the 1960s on an ad hoc basis.

Evaluation of this ad hoc approach to cervical screening found that Australia was preventing only 50% of all cases of cervical cancer when 90% prevention was believed possible with a systematic approach.

Guidelines on cervical screening programs published in 1986 by the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer were used as a basis for a review in Australia conducted on behalf of the Australian Health Minister's Advisory Council.

Following this review, cervical screening was organised into a structured program known today as the National Cervical Screening Program. Each state and territory now has its own cervical screening program, linked with the national program. In Victoria the program is called PapScreen Victoria.

The development and operation of the National Cervical Screening Program over the past decade has been one of Australia's most important public health success stories. There were 715 new cases of cervical cancer in Australia in 2007 compared with the 1078 detected in 1990, before the start of the organised screening program.

To find out more about the national program visit the National Cervical Screening Program’s website.

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