There is no doubt we have come a long way in the past ten years. Just a decade ago, cervical screening was sporadic and inconsistent, which meant that a lot of treatable pre-cancerous abnormalities were missed. We have now taken a leading role with one of the world's only national cervical screening programs and policies. Dr Wooldridge also launched two key reports developed to monitor the performance of the National Cervical Screening Program and the BreastScreen Australia Program. Indicative of the Program's success is the fact that in 1997 and 1998, more than one and a quarter million Australian women were screened by BreastScreen Australia.
Small cancers are generally more responsive to treatment than more advanced cases.
And while there has been an increase in the number of new cases of breast cancer in women aged 50-69 since the early 1990s, coinciding with the introduction of BreastScreen Australia, it is safe to say that this is due, at least partly, to the effectiveness of the Program as cancers are now being detected earlier than ever before. The fact is that increased screening across Australia is leading to higher rates of detection, therefore allowing for early intervention in the treatment of breast cancer and cervical abnormalities.