• 1/16/2005
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Women In Government’s Challenge To Eliminate Cervical Cancer Campaign as reported by prnewswire.com

Women In Government today presented the findings from its first report on states’ progress to eliminate cervical cancer — a disease that is almost always preventable with the most-advanced screening technologies. The report titled, “A Call to Action:The ‘State’ of Cervical Cancer in America,” finds that none of the states are where they should be, based on cervical cancer screening rates, coverage of routine screening tests in public insurance programs and passage of state legislation to make cervical cancer elimination a priority.

“The report findings reveal that too many American women remain unscreened or under-screened for cervical cancer,” said Women In Government chair and Michigan Senator, Beverly Hammerstrom (R-17th district). “We urge state legislators, public health officials, advocates and others to renew their efforts to prevent cervical cancer by ensuring that all women have access to the most advanced screening technologies — including both the Pap and the HPV (human papillomavirus) tests — regardless of their socioeconomic status. We will continue to monitor state successes and highlight their progress in future reports as part of our 10-year plan to eliminate this disease.”

Major findings in the report show:

— No state received an “excellent” grade.
— Massachusetts scored highest with 75 percent (achieving 12 out of 16 possible points), followed by Illinois, Maryland and North Carolina
(69 percent or 11 out of 16 points each).
— Tennessee and Texas scored lowest (25 percent), followed by Wyoming
and Nevada (31 percent or 5 out of 16 points each).

The report also found that among the four states that fared best:

— At least eighty percent of age-appropriate women have been screened in the last three years. (Three of the top four states had a screening rate of more than 86 percent).
— Their Medicaid programs cover HPV testing along with the Pap in routine screening of women age 30 and older.
— They have created state task forces to implement the most recent knowledge, expertise and technologies in fighting the disease.

“The key to defeating cervical cancer is to detect and treat the early cell changes before they become cancer. Most state-funded programs rely on the Pap test, which detects these cell changes approximately 51 to 85 percent of the time,” said J. Thomas Cox, M.D., director, Women’s Clinic, University of California, Santa Barbara. “We know that cervical cancer is caused by high-risk types of HPV. By testing for the presence of this virus along with the
Pap, the accuracy of the test can be increased to almost 100 percent. Women who are found to have HPV but have a normal Pap are monitored closely, and if the HPV infection doesn’t go away, they can be evaluated more completely and, if proven to have precancerous cell changes, can be treated earlier than might have otherwise occurred. This may be particularly important for women from more socioeconomically disadvantaged groups because many of these women have less opportunity to be screened regularly. Unfortunately, while 46 states and the District of Columbia cover HPV testing through Medicaid when medically necessary, many physicians are not routinely offering it. Therefore, it is imperative to inform doctors and women about HPV, and to ensure access to HPV testing and to the vaccine for HPV when it becomes available.”

This baseline state assessment was requested by Women In Government’s
Cervical Cancer Elimination Task Force as part of its Challenge to Eliminate Cervical Cancer Campaign, which encourages state legislatures to pass bills and resolutions to improve cervical cancer prevention efforts in their states. Given that cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, Women In Government has made eliminating the disease over the next 10 years one of the organization’s top priorities. Women In Government established a Cervical Cancer Task Force in 2003 to identify ways state officeholders can facilitate better education and screening programs for women. Already, the group’s members have introduced legislation or resolutions addressing cervical cancer in 18 states and have passed them in 13 states.

In August 2004, Women In Government launched its HPV & Cervical Cancer Policy Resource Center, which provides state legislators with a centralized clearinghouse for sharing ideas, drafting legislation and obtaining up-to-date information. The Resource Center can be contacted at 1-888-333-0164 or [email protected].

About Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer strikes 10,520 women in the United States each year, and is second only to breast cancer in the number of women it affects worldwide. Virtually all cases of cervical cancer are caused by high-risk forms of HPV, which affect approximately 80 percent of adults at some point in their lives. In the majority of cases, the virus clears on its own. However, in some women, the infection persists and causes cell changes on the cervix that may ultimately become cancerous.

These persistent infections are most commonly found in women 30 and older, many of who are unscreened or under-screened. That is why HPV testing is approved by the FDA along with the Pap test in this age group.

About Women In Government

Women In Government is a bipartisan, non-profit, educational association for women in state government. It promotes informed policymaking and the leadership role of women by providing issue education and opportunities for idea and information exchange.

For a copy of the full report or for more information on Women In Government’s Challenge To Eliminate Cervical Cancer Campaign, visit http://www.womeningovernment.org.