Public health challenge to eliminating cervical cancer: The response in Illinois

Cervical cancer was the seventh most common cancer diagnosed among females in Illinois in the years 1986-2002. There are substantial racial, ethnic and regional disparities for cervical cancer incidence, mortality and stage of diagnosis. Illinois developed a coordinated statewide strategy to eliminate and prevent this treatable disease. The strategy resulted in the creation of the Cervical Cancer Elimination Task Force which brought together lawmakers, public health and medical professionals, health insurance industry, communications experts and women's health groups under the leadership of the Governor to coordinate with existing state programs providing cervical cancer screening, education, and case management, to raise public awareness, identify priority strategies and new technologies, to assess existing laws, programs and services, and, ultimately, to develop a statewide cervical cancer prevention plan and strategies for plan implementation. The task force has identified barriers to care, prioritized screening, treatment and education activity and defined limitation in coverage of existing programs. Task force recommendations have focused on developing a statewide communications campaign to increase awareness of cervical cancer preventive measures among medical providers, health educators and consumers through educational, advocacy and legislative efforts targeting underserved populations. Additionally, the task force seeks to ensure that Illinois develops an HPV vaccine policy guaranteeing access to all including consideration of legislation mandating vaccination once issues of access and availability are fully explored. In January, Women in Government, in their annual state-by-state comparison report, identified Illinois as the second top-performing state in the nation making significant progress in the fight against cervical cancer.