Women who have regular cervical smear tests every three years as part of a screening programme reduce their risk of developing cervical cancer by about 90 percent.

 

Without screening*	With regular three-yearly screening*
1 out of 90 women will develop cervical cancer	1 out of 570 women will develop cervical cancer
1 out of 200 women will die from cervical cancer	1 out of 1280 women will die from cervical cancer

                          * estimated New Zealand figures

To put it another way, if a group of 1000 women do not have regular smear tests, 11 women will get cervical cancer before their 75th birthday, and about five will die from it.  If the same group of 1000 women all have regular three-yearly smear tests, about two women will get cervical cancer before their 75th birthday, and one will die from it. 

In countries where there are organised screening programmes, the largest group of women who are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer or who die from it are those who have never had a cervical smear test.

Other benefits of being enrolled on the programme include:

• there will be a record of your screening history. This information can be used by your smear taker or the laboratory to decide the right follow-up and when to have your next smear
• you will receive a letter welcoming you to the programme. This letter will include the result of your first cervical smear taken within the programme
• you will receive a reminder if your smear test is a few months overdue
• if you have a smear test that is not normal, you will receive a letter from the programme
• if you had an abnormal smear, the NCSP-Register provides a back-up system to check that you received the appropriate follow-up investigation and/or treatment
• you will receive a letter to inform you when you no longer need to have cervical smears
• you will receive a copy of any of your information that you ask for
• you will help make it a success for all New Zealand women. High numbers of women must take part to enable the programme to work well and achieve its aims.