Together we can make cervical cancer a rare disease

Take action by sharing your views on HPV vaccination, screening and treatment with the HSE today

Everyone can play a part in the drive towards elimination of cervical cancer – together we can make it happen. Marking International HPV Awareness Day today the HSE is calling on everyone in Ireland to share their views and experiences through a new online public consultation survey. This is the first step in developing Ireland’s action plan to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.

The survey takes five minutes to complete and seeks:

• your views and/or experience of HPV vaccination in Ireland
• your views and/or experience of cervical screening in Ireland
• your experiences if you have had cervical cancer treatment
• your views on how services can be improved
• the top 3 things you would like to see included in Ireland’s action plan to eliminate cervical cancer.

Director of Public Health, HSE National Screening Service and Head of the HSE’s Cervical Cancer Elimination Strategy Group, Dr Caroline Mason Mohan, said: “We want to ensure that everyone’s voices are heard in order to build an inclusive and effective action plan. Completing the survey takes just five minutes but will help us understand how we can best meet the 2040 target to eliminate cervical cancer in Ireland. We are asking people to complete the survey to share their views of how we can make cervical cancer truly rare. Whoever you are, wherever you live or work in Ireland, we want to hear from you.

“Some groups of people are more affected by cervical cancer and experience higher rates of illness and death than the general population. How can we close these gaps? How can we reduce these inequities? How can we ensure that everyone benefits from the elimination of cervical cancer? We can all play a role in making cervical cancer elimination a reality and you can play your part by giving us your views on these questions and more through the survey. Approximately 250 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year in Ireland, and sadly 82 women will die from it. When we reach our elimination goal, the number of cases will reduce significantly.”

Everyone over the age of 18 is invited to take part in the survey including:

• parents, teachers, patient representatives and carers
• advocacy groups, cancer support organisations, health and community-based services
• LGBTQ+ groups, Traveller health projects, migrant groups, schools, youth and sports organisations
• medical professionals including GPs, primary care services and public health departments
• any person or organisation involved in health service delivery and health promotion.

How to take part in the survey

The survey is available online at hse.ie/cervicalcancerelimination. The public survey will take about five minutes to complete, depending on the length of your answers. Medical professionals’ questions will take 5-15 minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous and confidential.

Elimination is defined by the WHO as fewer than 4 cases per 100,000 women. It is possible to reach this goal because we know HPV causes most cervical cancers. Almost all cases of cervical cancer (9 in 10) are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).  HPV infection can be prevented through HPV vaccination and HPV cervical screening can find cell changes caused by HPV and treat those changes before they become cancer. Elimination can be achieved by making sure that everyone has access to three important tools: vaccination against HPV which causes most cervical cancers; HPV cervical screening and treatment for cervical pre-cancer and cancer when appropriate.