The City of Ljubljana is joining the European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, which is taking place from 22 to 28 January 2024.

Cervical cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented by timely detection and treatment of precancerous changes. Regular preventive gynaecological examinations are, therefore, extremely important. Women who regularly go for screenings are said to have up to 80% less chance of ever getting cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is in 99% of cases causally related to the infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be transmitted by both men and women. Vaccination of both boys and girls against the HPV virus is, therefore, crucial.

Together towards the goal

Proactive action and cooperation of everyone in the local community are immensely important for the elimination of cervical cancer – the Community Health Centre Ljubljana and other health and public health institutions, primary and secondary schools, the municipality, non-governmental organisations, other local institutions and organisations and individuals. Only in this way will knowledge about cervical cancer and what we can do to avoid getting it spread among residents. And only in this way will trust be developed and maintained among residents, which is the key to the high participation of women in the ZORA programme and high vaccination coverage against HPV.

The importance of screening programmes

In recent years, cervical cancer most often occurs in women over the age of 50 who do not regularly participate in ZORA screenings. Therefore, we urge women to attend screening examinations at the gynaecologist regularly, that is, every three years, even after their childbearing years. If the screening results are negative up to the age of 64, the probability of getting cervical cancer drops significantly, and screenings can be stopped.

In the City of Ljubljana, 72.2% of girls and women between the ages of 20 and 64 responded to the invitation to be examined in the last three years. The vaccination coverage of girls and boys born in 2011 with at least one dose against HPV is 35.9%.
In order for Slovenia to be one of the first European countries where residents will no longer die from cancers caused by HPV infections, it is necessary to achieve 90% vaccination coverage of girls and boys against HPV and maintain at least 70% participation of women in the ZORA programme.