The Irish Cancer Society and some 25 trade unions, doctors, women's organisations and politicians have called on the Government to immediately roll out a national screening programme for cervical cancer.
Ireland has one of the highest rates of death from cancer of the cervix, the neck of the womb, in western Europe. There were 1,090 new cases of cervical "pre-cancer" in 2000, 193 cases of cervical cancer and 65 deaths from the disease.
The State has no national screening programme for the condition, which is curable if detected early enough.
Cervical screening through smear tests can catch pre-cancerous cells which can then be treated before they become cancerous and spread. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide.
The campaign unveiled today said there is an "urgent need" for free and properly organised nationwide screening to reduce cases of the disease and deaths from it.
Mr John McCormack, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society, said: "The 2001 Health Strategy stated that the health service would target inequalities in health care services and plan services to meet individual needs.
"It also said that it would focus on continuously promoting evidence-based standards of high quality. The provision of cervical cancer screening is a basic health care service.
"The Irish Cancer Society has serious concerns regarding the lack of this service, which will save the lives of young women with young families. The society intends to drive this campaign in conjunction with it partners from the trade union and wider healthcare and women's organisation sector and ensure that this service is delivered."
Professor Walter Prendiville, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Coombe Women's Hospital in Dublin, said a pilot programme involving 71,000 women had been set up in Limerick five years ago.
However, outside this area, the almost 934,000 other eligible women had to choose to pay for "opportunistic screening". Doctors have no idea how many women seek screening or how frequently.
"Opportunistic screening is expensive and is ineffective in reducing cervical cancer. In order to achieve an 80 per cent reduction in cervical cancer in the Irish population, there is an urgent need for an organised programme rather than continuing with opportunistic screening," Prof Prendiville said.
"However, despite various recommendations in the form of government commissioned reports, we have no indication of when and if the pilot programme will be rolled out on a nationwide basis and when all women in the relevant age group (25-60 years) in Ireland will be invited for screening."
The Irish Cancer Society has
recommended that a systematic call/recall programme be organised around four regional screening centres.
The screening should be free of charge to all women aged 25-60 years. Women aged between 25 and 35 should be screened every three years and thereafter at five year intervals if their smear test is negative, until the age of 60.
The Irish Cancer Society is also seeking a complete register of all women in Ireland in the relevant age group and a register of those who carry out smear tests.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, recently said an international expert in cervical screening had recently been commissioned to examine the "feasibility and implications" of a national cervical screening programme.