Prevention of Cervical Cancer where screening not implemented

Screening programmes are currently our only effective weapon against cervical cancer.  Education programmes can help lower the risk of contracting cervical cancer, for example by raising the average age at first sexual encounter and encouraging condom use to reduce the risk of transmission.  However, even barrier contraception is not fully effective because the virus can be passed on by genital skin-to-skin contact alone (McIntosh 2000; Schiffman and Kjaer 2003). 

There is currently no effective alternative to screening to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.  However, vaccines are currently under development that could protect women from persistent infection with the oncogenic HPV types 16 and 18 (Harper et al 2004; Koutsky et al 2002). They may also prevent infection with the low-risk HPV types 6 and 11 (Villa et al 2005).  These vaccines have the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of the disease, as HPV 16 and 18 are found in up to 70% of cervical cancers (Muñoz et al 2004).