title: Cervical cancer screening practices in central and eastern Europe in 2012.
abstract: The burden of cervical cancer in central and eastern Europe is generally higher compared to western or northern Europe due to a history of mostly opportunistic cervical cancer screening practices and due to the strong influence of political and economic changes in post-communist transition. This article describes the current cervical cancer screening practices, organizational plans for the future, and main obstacles that need to be overcome in 16 countries in central and eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Unfortunately, only a few countries have managed to establish an organized and well-functioning cervical cancer screening program in recent years, whereas most countries in the region are still struggling with implementation-related issues of organized cervical cancer screening. Encouragingly, even in the countries where only opportunistic screening is performed, well-prepared plans and strategies have been established for switching to organized screening in the near future.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Polona J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Maver
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seme
authors.forename: Tina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Korać
authors.forename: Goran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dimitrov
authors.forename: Lajos
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Döbrőssy
authors.forename: Ludmila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engele
authors.forename: Ermina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iljazović
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kesić
authors.forename: Petya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kostova
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laušević
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maurina
authors.forename: Florian A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Nicula
authors.forename: Yulia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Panayotova
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Primic Žakelj
authors.forename: Alenka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Repše Fokter
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Romejko-Wolniewicz
authors.forename: Giedrė
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Smailytė
authors.forename: Ofelia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Şuteu
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Świderska-Kiec
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tachezy
authors.forename: Zdravka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Valerianova
authors.forename: Piret
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Veerus
authors.forename: Ilze
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vīberga
authors.forename: Ariana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Znaor
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zubor
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poljak
mesh_terms: D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000592:standards*; D005061:Europe, Eastern; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*