STRETFORD and Urmston MP Kate Green is supporting Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust’s call for action to increase cervical screening uptake rates.

Cervical screening coverage in the North West is 72.3 per cent meaning that more than one in four eligible women do not attend their screening appointment.

Cervical screening uptake is now at a 19-year low, and more women each year are being diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Ms Green said: “I am very concerned that more than one million women in England did not attend cervical screening last year. “Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35 and is on the rise in women over 50. However, screening provides the best protection against the disease and can detect abnormal cells which if not treated or monitored, could develop in to cervical cancer. “We need a step change in awareness about the importance of cervical screening and I am proud to support Cervical Cancer Prevention Week.”

Robert Music, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said: “We have one of the best cervical screening programmes in the world which saves approximately 5,000 lives a year. However, the number of women attending their screening is at a 19 year low.

“If we do not increase investment in prevention we will be faced with more women facing the physical and psychological cost of cervical cancer, increased burden on the NHS and state, and more lives lost.”

Last week was Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (January 22 to 28).