Cervical cancer screening programme in Finland

In Finland, the organised screening programme for the prevention of cervica l cancer has been run for over 30 years and has contributed to a 70 80% dec rease in the age-adjusted cervical cancer incidence, as well as a reduction in mortality rates. In this article, we describe the operational details o f the organised programme how the target population is defined, how the inv itations are done, how smear tests are collected and analysed, how referral s to confirmation and treatment are conducted, and we also provide recent d ata on the extent and main screening results. The Finnish programme has led to net savings when assessed for its cost-effectiveness. The results encou rage the continuation of the screening programme. By introducing modern scr eening technologies and more systematic quality control activities in the p rogramme, and by expanding the coverage and compliance we expect to further increase the: impact of the programmes (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.