2 New Approaches to Reduce Cervical Cancer Among Poor-NYT

The New York Times reports from a recent study that says that:

For women with a high risk of cervical cancer and limited access to health care, two new, simplified types of screening may be more useful than the usual preventive methods, doctors are reporting today.

Both approaches involve testing women for precancerous growths on the cervix, getting results quickly and offering to treat the women immediately instead of requiring that they come back to the clinic.

For some women, returning to the clinic is so difficult that they may wind up going untreated and eventually dying of the disease.

If women are tested regularly, cervical cancer is easy to prevent. But worldwide, there are 471,000 cases a year, and 233,000 deaths.

Most are in poor countries where screening and treatment are not available; in developed countries, the disease is most common in women who are poor or members of minorities, who are less likely to be screened.

More here