Focus Area 4: Increasing cancer screening and prevention

Table 4: Tracking progress against the targets in Focus Area 4
TargetBaseline value1Latest value2Tracking against target3Comparison change
Target 1: Increase participation rates for bowel cancer screening (to at least 53%) by 20252020–21 participation rate for bowel cancer screening (AIHW 2024h): 40.9%2021–2022 participation rate for bowel cancer screening (AIHW 2024h): 40.0%No change4
0.9 percentage point ↓ (decrease)
Target 2: Increase participation rates for breast cancer screening (to at least 65%) by 20252018–2019 participation rate for breast cancer screening (AIHW 2024c): 54.7%2022–2023 participation rate for breast cancer screening5 (AIHW 2024c): 51.7%Regress6
3.0 percentage point ↓ (decrease)
Target 3: Increase participation rates for cervical screening (to at least 70%)7 by 2025Data not available82018–2022 participation for cervical screening (AIHW 2023j): 68.4%Status not known
N/A
Target 4: Eliminate cervical cancer as a public health issue in Australia by 2035In 2016, there were 895 new cases of cervical cancer (a rate of 7.2 cases per 100,000 females) diagnosed in Australia (AIHW 2024d).In 2024, the number of cervical cancer cases is projected to be 1,030 (a rate of 7.4 cases per 100,000 females) (AIHW 2024d).No change
0.2 ↑ (increase) in rate of cases per 100,000 females

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Notes

  1. Baseline value is the latest year of data that was available for each target at the time the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030 was developed. Progress is measured against this baseline value, noting that there might be earlier data before the baseline year. Baseline level data for some indicators are also revised throughout the years and may be different to that included in the published strategies. For each target, where possible, a longer-term time trend is presented in the Interactive dashboard.
  2. Latest value is the current latest year of data available to measure progress against the baseline value, as of 12 December 2024.
  3. For interpretation of tracking the progress, see Table 1: Key for tracking against the targets of the National Preventive Health Strategy.
  4. Data prior to 2020 has not been included due to data source transition in November 2019 which may have affected the affected the quality and completeness of the data. For more information, see the Interactive dashboard.
  5. Breast cancer participation rate for 2022–2023 is preliminary.
  6. COVID-19 affected screening participation, due to the implementation of COVID-19 safety measured. For more information, see the Interactive dashboard.
  7. This target has been updated since publication of the National Preventive Health Strategy in 2021. It has been updated here to align with the National Strategy for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer in Australia.
  8. A renewed National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) was introduced on 1 December 2017 which included a change from 2-yearly Pap tests for the target age group 20–69 to 5-yearly HPV tests for the target age group 25–74. A baseline value is not available for this target. For more information, see the Interactive dashboard.
     
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