One of the stimulus for holding this congress was the great interest expressed by physicians of various specialities who deal with this issue in a multidisciplinary way (gynaecologists, dermatologists, virologists, epidemiologists, cytologists, pathologists, general practitioners, school medicine physicians, etc.) at the recently held 1st Croatian Symposium on the Prevention and Treatment of Early Cervical Cancer with doctors from Croatia and the neighbouring countries attending.

Considering that today we know that the main factor in the emergence of cervical cancer is HPV which is sexually transmitted it is clear that the prevention of these infections and their most common consequences, cervical cancer, cannot be systematically resolved in only one country due to common migrations and the way of life. Therefore, better international and, in particularly, region cooperation is needed for its efficient prevention.