03 July 2023 at 14:30
As of this week, women aged 30 and older will also receive a self-test together with the invitation for the population screening for cervical cancer. This way they can participate in the research from home.
Women can participate in the population screening with the self-sampling kit or a smear test at the GP. Both methods are effective and reliable for detecting HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer. Sandra van Dijk, the program manager of the population screening for cervical cancer at RIVM, informed NU.nl.
The difference between the self-test and the smear at the GP is that the self-test is only vaginal. Cervical cells are also taken during the Pap smear. The second method can also be used to discover whether someone has abnormal cervical cells.
About 10 percent of women carry the HPV virus. If the self-test shows this, then a smear must be taken at the GP anyway, says Van Dijk.
Participation in the population screening is voluntary and free of charge. Women who turn 30 automatically receive the self-sampling kit with the invitation. Women between the ages of 35 and 60 who have not responded to the first invitation will automatically receive a self-test at home after twelve weeks.
Every year about nine hundred women get cervical cancer and two hundred people die from this disease. Without the population screening, there would be five hundred, according to the RIVM.
Population screening becomes more accessible with self-test
In 2021, almost 55 percent of the women who received an invitation participated in the population screening. This percentage was lower among women aged between 30 and 34, at 44 percent. The reasons for not participating in the study include the fact that women find it annoying to have a smear taken.
Van Dijk expects that the self-test will make the population screening more accessible. Thanks to the self-test, women who experience a barrier to having a Pap smear taken at their GP can participate, says the program manager.
2023-07-03 12:30:06
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