Impact of health promotion activities during the European cervical cancer prevention week on the results of organised cervical cancer screening program in 2024 in the Republic of Serbia

Every year in January, European countries raise awareness among women about the cervical cancer prevention through The European Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (ECCPW) since 2007. In Serbia, ECCPW is carried out by the Institutes of Public Health and the Institute of Public Health of Serbia (IPHS) "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut". The aim of this study was to present and document all activities conducted during the ECCPW in 2024 in the Republic of Serbia and to compare their impact on the coverage of PAP tests during the January 2024 with the results of the average coverage of PAP test in the cervical cancer screening programme in 2024. Official reports form from the institutes of public health and The National Cancer Screening office were used for analysis. Response rates and coverage of target population by PAP in the screening programme were calculated as the number of women who responded the invitation for the screening programme and were tested in relation to the whole number of invited women (25-64 years old) and women who live in the municipalities included in the screening programme. Total number of Institutes which were participated in promotional activities during the ECCPW in 2024 were 15. It was held 192 organizational meetings, 222 lectures in which 5136 participants took part, 6004 individual health educations, 971 group health educations, 6 public events in which around 920 participants took part, 183 health education exhibitions, 5 public forums and 3 press conferences. Total 116 media campaigns were organised and around 159 partners were taken important role for supporting those activities. The professional guidelines were prepared in the IPHS. Those activities had resulted to the higher values of response rate to PAP test in January vs. average results in 2024 (61.8% vs.58.6%) as well as to the coverage of PAP test for the same period (23.9% vs.22.8%). Through the public health campaigns during the ECCPW in the Republic of Serbia, women's awareness of the importance of preventive gynaecological examinations was raised, which led to an increase in the coverage of the PAP test in the screening program.