segurança cirurgica

ARTIGO ORIGINAL / ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Prevenção do câncer de colo do útero: um modelo teórico para analisar o acesso e a utilização do teste de Papanicolaou

Adriana de Araujo Pinho
Ivan França-Junior 1

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Departamento de Saúde Materno-Infantil. Faculdade de Saúde
Pública. Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, 2º andar. São Paulo, SP, Brasil. CEP 01.246-904

Cervical cancer prevention: a theoretical framework to analyze Papanicolaou test access and use

Abstract Several studies have indicated that the

Resumo Vários estudos têm apontado que a per-

prevailing high incidence and mortality rates of cervical cancer, mainly in developing countries, are due to the low quality and coverage of the cervical smear or Papanicolaou (Pap) test. This article intends to analise some aspects related to measures of control and prevention of cervical cancer, such as the effectiveness of the Pap test, the operational and scientific rationale of public health policies for the prevention of cervical cancer and coverage of the Papanicolaou test in many countries. It also intends to review the explanatory models that have been proposed to analyze access to this service. For this latter objective, we investigated the factors associated to the use of the Pap test described within the epidemiological literature and we proposed a new approach in the investigation of these factors, incorporating social, cultural and organizational aspects in the analysis of access to and use of this practice so that measures of prevention and control may be more coherent with the needs and the rights of women.
Key words Cervix neoplasms, Vaginal smears, Preventive health services, Health services

manência das altas taxas de incidência e mortalidade por câncer cérvico-uterino deve-se à baixa qualidade e cobertura do teste de Papanicolaou, principalmente em países em desenvolvimento. Pretende-se neste artigo analizar alguns pontos relacionados às