Meeting the cervical cancer screening needs of underserved women: The National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 2004–2006

Abstract

Although NBCCEDP provided cervical cancer screening services to 775,312 low-income, uninsured women, this number represented a small percentage of those eligible. In 2005, more than 34% of NBCCEDP-eligible women (3.1 million women) did not receive recommended Pap tests from either NBCCEDP or other sources.

Comparison of breast and cervical cancer screening utilization among rural and urban Hispanic and American Indian women in the Southwestern United States

“…An analysis of the NBCCEDP's effect on breast cancer mortality found that it saved 369,000 life-years compared with women who received no screening [34]. However, the NBCCEDP serves a small percentage of women eligible for the program and there remains a substantial need for services for historically underserved populations [33,35].…”

Addressing the Barriers to Cervical Cancer Prevention Among Hispanic Women

“…This program serves to provide free Pap screening to underserved women without health insurance. In examining the extent to which the NBCCEDP met the needs of its target population, Tangka et al calculated the percentage of eligible women who received free Pap screening through the program [38]. While over three quarters of a million low-income, uninsured women received screening, this represented only 9 % of eligible women.…”

‘Organised’ cervical screening 45 years on: How consistent are organised screening practices?

“…Populations also have different access to organised programmes based on factors other than geography. The United States, for example, has organised and funded cervical screening programmes in most states for eligible underserved women [75][76][77]. Conversely, some organised screening programmes may not be available to women who cannot pay to attend.…”

“…Examples include offering Pap tests at STI clinics, at genitourinary departments in hospitals, at EDs, and in prisons, all of which are described as more likely to reach un-or under-screened women [83][84][85][86][87]. The US has organised programmes solely for higher risk women [76]. There are also examples of lower risk women being opportunistically screened in addition to or instead of screening prompted by invitation.…”

“…The United States and some Canadian provinces show that it is possible to achieve very wide population coverage [5,80] without an organised screening programme in place, albeit at the expense of higher resource use and potential over screening [31]. US cervical screening levels are estimated to be among the highest of any country, including the screening of women with income below the poverty threshold [40,76,80].…”