A study to determine knowledge, aptitudes and practices towards cervical cancer prevention will be carried out nationwide in September. This will cover 1,203 women aged between 25 and 61. The study aims to find out why the women do not do the Papanicolau cervical screening test and what social norms influence their behavior and to determine the aspects that should be improved at system level, IPN reports.

According to UNFPA, the study will involve about 30 sociological operators who will travel to localities to collect data. There will be held discussions with women of the 25-61 age bracket and interviews with providers of cervical screening services and experts in preventing cervical cancer.

According to specialists, cervical cancer is one of the few oncological diseases that can be prevented by the Pap test. Over 300 new cases of cervical cancer are annually identified in the Republic of Moldova. Every three days, a woman dies from this disease. Therefore, the women are encouraged to take an active part in the study as this will help the medical system improve the access to and quality of cervical cancer prevention services and to determine optimal methods of informing the population.

The study forms part of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Project in the Republic of Moldova that is implemented by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection and is co-financed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The sociological company Magenta Consulting will conduct the quantitative research and will analyze the data.