Comparing health services interventions
Cervical cancer is an important health problem in Europe with about 60,000 new cases per year and 25,000 new deaths per year. The burden of cervical cancer varies considerably across Europe, and is especially high in Central and Eastern European countries. The variation in cervical cancer incidence can largely be ascribed to differences in cancer control programmes, which vary with respect to screening intervals, targeted age groups , quality of screening, coordination (organized or opportunistic) and coverage of the programme.
Apart from cytology-based screening, new methods for cervical cancer prevention have become available in recent years, including screening tests to detect infection with the causal virus (human papillomavirus, HPV), and vaccines to prevent infection with (certain types of) HPV. Since 2008, a great number of European countries have integrated HPV vaccination in their national immunization programmes. Because of substantial variation in health care resources and in the burden of cervical cancer, optimal prevention policies, integrating both vaccination and screening, will likely differ between countries. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is suitable to compare the different health interventions in country-specific settings. It facilitates policy makers and decision makers (as well as patients and clinicians) to make informed decisions that will improve health care at both the individual and population levels.
This website is dedicated to the CoheaHr project. CoheaHr stands for “comparing health services interventions for the prevention of HPV-related cancer” and is an European-funded multidisciplinary consortium of key researchers in the field of HPV screening and vaccination. CoheaHr aims to provide a strong evidence base which will enable policy makers and other stakeholders to make informed decisions on HPV prevention strategies, thereby contributing to strengthening health systems and health services interventions in Europe.