New figures show that 380,000 women who should have been tested for cervical cancer in 2025 have not yet done so. At the same time, 5,700 women with aggressive HPV have not received follow-up.
Fanette Caudron, policy expert at Cancerfonden, warns of serious consequences. She says there is a great risk that the latter group will develop cervical cancer and that it happens very quickly. Around 1 percent of women with HPV16 or HPV18 develop cancer within a year, corresponding to about 60 women.
The figures come from the National Quality Register for Cervical Cancer Prevention. The differences between regions are large. In Östergötland, 15 percent of women with a positive HPV test have not been followed up, while the share in Värmland is less than 3 percent.
Sweden is rolling out self-testing for HPV in several regions. A national project to eradicate HPV and cervical cancer started in 2021 and enters its final phase this year. The goal is for 90 percent of women aged 23 to 70 to be tested before December 2026.