Whatever happened to the Jade Goody effect?

After the reality star died of cervical cancer in 2009, nearly 500,000 extra women turned up for smear tests. Now, the number of screenings has reached a 20-year low. Why?

When the letter arrives informing me that I am due a smear test, as it does every three years for women aged 25 to 49, I do what many women do: I recycle it. There will be a reminder. Or I hide it under a pile of papers to find in a couple of months’ time.

I know I am not alone in this, because the latest figures from NHS Digital show that the number of smear tests being carried out in England has reached a 20-year low. The overall decline may seem small – in March 2017, the percentage of women deemed to have been screened adequately fell to 72% from 72.7% the year before – but the figures mask a persistent decline in women booking tests.

Continue reading... January 21, 2018 at 08:30PM