Target100,000

Target100,000 campaign hopes NEW at home self sampler will help thousands of women re-engage in cervical screening.

About Target100,000

• Target 100,000 is a campaign which aims to get more women involved in cervical screening and help identify women at higher risk of developing cervical cancer. Earlier diagnosis of the disease can help reduce the number of women who die from cervical cancer each year in the UK.
• Target 100,000 is an initiative launched by GynaeHealth UK who offer GynaeCheck, an at-home-self-collector that offers an alternative to a smear test.

Why 100,000 women

• Every year in the UK, one million women miss their smear test. Research has shown that giving women the option of an at-home-self-collector can increase engagement by about 10%. It is therefore estimated that offering GynaeCheck in the UK could help 100,000 more women get tested. GynaeCheck tests for high risk strains of the Human Papilloma Virus, the virus which leads to 99.7% of cervical cancers.
• The Target 100,000 campaign aims to offer women skipping their smear tests an alternative in the form of an at home self collector, GynaeCheck.
• By offering an alternative and pain free-way to test for HPV, more women in the UK could be tested for the strains of HPV associated with almost all cases of cervival cancer, Target 100,000 hopes lives lost to the disease will reduce.

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under the age of 35 and approximately 3,100 women are diagnosed in the UK every year. Despite a nationwide cervical cancer screening programme that has been in place since the 1980's, only 66% of younger women and 80% of older women attend screenings. If cervical cancer is diagnosed in the early stages, up to 90% of women  under 40 will survive which is why early detection is so important.

As cervical cancer is often a slow disease process, it can be detected and very successfully treated in the pre-cancerous stages. If a women attends for regular screening then cancer is very unlikely to develop, as pre-cancerous changes can be treated in a very timely manner. 

New research released today has found that 5,346,000 women are not up to date with their cervical screening appointments. Incredibly 1.1 million admit they have never had a smear test, with pain, embarrassment and struggling to an appointment chiefly to blame. This month GynaeHealth UK will launch GynaeCheck (a new, at home, self sampling device --click the link to see my previous blogpost about the very GynaeCheck) for the 70% of UK women who believe that a self-collecting alternative should be offered to women of all ages! 

The research, commissioned by GynaeHealth UK to launch their Target100,000 campaign reveals the average UK woman is 672 days late for her smear test appointment. For many the anxiety around smear tests could be alleviated if they were able to comfortably collect their own sample. 

• Why are women missing their smear tests?
•  75% have had a bad smear test experience 
• 69% do not like their genitals being touched 
• 50% of women struggle to get an appointment
• 14% of women struggle to get time of work
• 1 in 4 feel anxious getting undressed
• 80% of women find smear tests painful or uncomfortable.

The reasons for avoiding the smear test appointment are many and varied. While only a small minority surveyed cited trauma related to sexual abuse, it is surprising that 80% of women find this routine test uncomfortable or painful!

"With GynaeCheck the woman is in complete control and the size of the device is useful in post-menopausal women who can experience vaginal discomfort when the speculum is used." comments Dr Pixie McKenna.

To launch Target100,000 they are offering GynaeCheck at a reduced rate of £99 for the entire month of September as part of Gynaecologic Cancer awareness month. Visit www.Target100000.org.uk

for more information on the campaign.