The incidence of cervical cancer in Denmark could be so low in 2040 that the disease will be considered effectively eradicated in the country, according to a new report from NGO the Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse).
Cervical cancer would become the first form of cancer to effectively disappear in Denmark should the forecast be borne out.
“Cervical cancer was the third most common cancer among women in the 1960s,”Janne Bigaard, senior medical consultant and project manager at the Danish Cancer Society, said in a press statement.
The disease currently ranks as the 13th-most common form of cancer in women.
Bigaard is part of a team of professors and senior consultants involved in a review of the key factors necessary for the disease to become a thing of the past in Denmark.
These include uptake of the HPV vaccine and participation in cervical cancer screening, both of which are reported by the organisation to be progressing well.
Denmark is already approaching the WHO threshold for eliminating cervical cancer, which is defined as fewer than four cases per 100,000 women.
“Denmark could be among the first countries in Europe to eliminate cervical cancer,” Bigaard said.
HPV vaccine uptake among 12-year-olds currently stands at 89 percent, just shy of the 90 percent target according to the Danish Cancer Society. The HPV vaccine has been part of the Denmark's national child vaccination programme since 2009.
Sixty percent of all women in Denmark currently take up the offer of cervical cancer screening, whereas the goal is 70 percent.
“If we’re to succeed in eliminating cervical cancer, authorities must monitor developments closely and intervene where uptake of vaccination and screening is too low,” Bigaard said.
Vaccine uptake can vary according to social and ethnic factors, she noted.
A new home-testing method is meanwhile expected to boost screening participation, the organisation said.
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