China meets national cervical cancer screening goal

China has met its goal to raise the national cervical cancer screening rate above 50 percent ahead of schedule, but experts say more efforts are needed to boost awareness and improve healthcare access in rural areas to close the urban-rural gap.

The national cervical cancer screening rate — defined as the percentage of women who have undergone at least one screening in their lifetime — reached 51.5 percent among women age 35 to 64 from 2023 to 2024, according to a study published by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That marks a significant rise from 36.8 percent between 2018 and 2019.

The screening rate was 57.9 percent among women age 35 to 44 and 36.8 percent among those age 20 and older, the study found. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 97,000 women across all 31 provincial-level regions in China.