Cancer of the cervix uteri is the second most common cancer
among women worldwide, with about 500,000 new patients women
diagnosed and 250,000 deaths every year. Almost 80% of the cases
occur in developing countries and in many regions, cervix cancer
is the most common cancer in women. IARC, a key player in cancer
prevention around the world "One of the key missions of the
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)", says Dr
Peter Boyle, the recently appointed Director of the WHO cancer
research Agency, "is to provide preventive tools and methods
particularly to those countries that lack proper resources of
their own." A Working Group of the IARC, chaired by Professor
Nicholas Day of Cambridge, was convened in Lyon, France, from 20
to 27 April 2004, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of
cervix cancer screening in reducing incidence of and mortality
from the disease. Organized cytology screening programmes are
effective The Working Group concluded that there is sufficient
evidence that screening fo