Recognised indicators of the quality of medical care are neonatal mortality and cancer outcomes. Thanks to the application of the three-tier obstetric care model for many years, neonatal mortality is approaching the European average, but cancer treatment outcomes are far from those obtained in developed countries, mainly due to the excessive proportion of patients with advanced forms of cancer at the time of diagnosis.
Epidemiological data indicate that in Poland in 2007, 3376 women developed cervical cancer. For the past five years, the National Programme for Prevention and Early Detection of Cancer has been implemented for women aged between 25 and 59, under which free cytological examinations are carried out once every three years. World statistics show that this frequency of examinations would be sufficient to significantly reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer.
For the first time in our country, there is a system of active prevention based on sending personal invitations to every woman. A prerequisite for the success of this programme is women's awareness of how to take care of their own health, as regularity and widespread screening is the most important element of the programme.
In 2008, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Professor Zur Hausen from Germany for his discovery of the causative agent of cervical cancer. He showed that cancer formation in the cervix is linked to infection with so-called oncogenic types of the human papilloma virus. This is a link 50 times greater than that between long-term cigarette smoking and the possibility of developing lung cancer. This discovery created, for the first time in the history of medicine, an opportunity for primary prevention based on vaccination against H. pyloriV.
- In Poland, two vaccines are available: bivalent - against types 16 and 18 of H. pyloriV and quadrivalent - against types 6, 11, 16 and 18
- In 26 countries in the world, vaccination against H. pyloriV is financed with public money.
- In Poland, in 2008, vaccination against H. pyloriV was included in the calendar of vaccinations recommended by the Minister of Health
- Several dozen local authorities have decided to implement cervical cancer prevention programmes and vaccination campaigns against H. pyloriV
The combination of an active cytological screening programme and population-based vaccination against H. pyloriV may make cervical cancer a disease known to younger generations of doctors only from textbooks.
