Three quarters of sexually active students who took part in a survey of cervical screening had never had a Pap smear, despite being aware of the importance of such tests, according to results of a study carried out in Serbia – the country with the highest incidence and mortality from cervical cancer in Europe.

Speaking at the 16th International Meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) in Belgrade, Serbia, 11-14 October 2009, Dr Olivera Tĕsić, from the Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Serbia, described data from a questionnaire administered to 727 female students, 294 students aged younger than 21 years old and 433 students aged 21-24 years old. Although 82% of the women were sexually active, 77% had never had a smear, despite the fact that over 70% of students knew the importance of regular smears. In contrast, 73% were unaware of the role of HPV in cervical cancer – even though about half of the students were medical students.

Dr Tĕsić concluded that if such well educated young women were missing out on regular smears and were unaware of the role of HPV, this raised significant doubts about awareness and uptake in other young women in Serbia. In May 2008, the Serbian government agreed that a national cervical cancer screening programme should be implemented.