Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Prevention of cervical cancer is possible

Belgrade, 22 January 2007

Serbian Assistant Minister of Health Snezana Simic said today on occasion of the European Cervical Cancer Week, which was held from January 21 to 28, that the most frequent cause of this disease is infection from human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted sexually.

Author: Tanjug

Simic said at a press conference that prevention of cervical cancer is possible, and recalled that the action conducted by the Ministry of Health is titled “Information and Action”.

According to Simic, information is meant for women who rarely undergo gynecological examination, even though the number of doctors is sufficient at primary health care level, and action is directed towards additional education of health care employees.

Chairperson of the special working group of the Ministry of Health for cervical cancer prevention Dimitrije Segedi stressed that cervical cancer can be cured if it is diagnosed in time.

The aim of educating the public should be spreading awareness among women, families and society that cervical cancer can be prevented, said Segedi, adding that a vaccine against HPV should soon become available in Serbia.

Segedi stressed that the role of men is also very important in this process, since they should encourage and remind women to visit the gynaecologist.

According to Segedi, ogranised screenings will be introduced in Serbia, through which organised invitations will be sent to women to appear for gynaecological examination and cervical testing.

He stressed that all tests carried out within the framework of screening are free of charge, they do not require any particular reference, only the official invitation, and data collected will be confidential.

Segedi said that standard HPV testing is inexpensive, reliable and fast and can reveal not only cervical cancer but also the changes which might lead to it.

According to the statistics presented by the Ministry of Health, in Serbia one woman dies daily due to cervical cancer, ten are diagnosed, and the most common reason for the high number of patients is insufficient attention by women regarding health care. Unfortunately Serbia has one of the worst records in Europe regarding the frequency of cervical cancer, with 1,500 cases annually.