Women urged to get regular cervical smear tests

CERVICAL cancer rates in Ireland could be reduced if women took a more active role in encouraging their female friends to get regular smear tests for the disease, it was claimed yesterday.

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) said the message needed to be communicated that the disease was highly preventable through regular smear testing as it helped to launch European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week.

According to the IFPA’s medical director, Dr Caitriona Henchion, cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women aged under 44 in the Republic.