Declining deaths from breast and cervical cancer

Statistics published by Statistics Norway show a steady decline in deaths from breast and cervical cancers among Norwegian women. The Cancer Registry of Norway is in charge of the national breast and cervical cancer screening programmes, and the number of deaths from these cancers has declined steadily since these programmes started.

675 females died from breast cancer in 2006. This is the lowest number of deaths reported since the screening programme for this disease started in 1995/1996.

- This is a great encouragement for us, says Rita Steen, head of department for screening based research at the Cancer Registry of Norway.

- We expect that this trend will continue and strengthen in coming years. Breast cancer screening has been nationally available for women aged 45-69 for a short period, and more time will be needed to get a full effect of the screening nationwide. 

Reported cases of new cervical cancer cases to the Cancer Registry have showed a similar decline the last years. 

79 women died from cervical cancer in 2006. This figure is on the same low level as the last two years. Number of deaths caused by this cancer form is now much lower than when the cervical cancer screening programme started in 1995.