19©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2008: 34(1) Background

Although the overall incidence of cervical cancer has fallen dramatically since the introduction of the systematic call–recall screening programme in 1988, averting an epidemic of cervical cancer,1 the incidence appears to be increasing in young women aged 15–44 years from 10.7/ 100 000 in 1979 to 14.7/100 000 in 1990. Two peaks are seen in cervical cancer incidence: one for women in their 80s and the other for women in their 30s. These cohorts are at high risk and represent young women becoming sexually active following World Wars 1 and 2 and in the 1960s with the advent of oral contraception, the sexual revolution and consequent changes in sexual behaviour. Whereas the former cohort will disappear, there is no indication that the second peak will see a reduction in exposure to the central causative agent of anogenital carcinogenesis, high-risk huma