Cervical cancer prevention

Cervical cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy worldwide, accounting for about 500,000 new cases each year (WHO Report 2006). Most of these cases (90%) occur in the developing world where it is the second most common malignancy in women after breast cancer (WHO Report 2006). By contrast, in the United States (U.S.) cervical cancer has decreased dramatically since the introduction of cytologic screening (Pap smear), and is now a relatively infrequent neoplasm, especially among well-screened majority populations with access to health care services. In the U.S., an individual woman's lifetime risk of developing cervical cancer is estimated to be 1 in 142 (Ries et al. 2007). In 2008, it is estimated that there were approximately 11,070 new cases of cervical cancer, and 3,870 deaths in the U.S. (Jemal et al. 2008).