Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide but the most common female cancer in developing countries [1]. In 2002, the estimated worldwide cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates were 16/100,000 and 8.9/100,000, respectively (Table 1) [2]. More than half the women who develop invasive cer­vical cancer (ICC) die of this disease. In 2002, there were 493,243 new cases of cervical cancer and 273,505 deaths worldwide. About 80% of cases occur in developing coun­tries where there is no screening or where screening pro­grams are ineffective. Nowadays, in countries where orga­nized screening (Papanicolaou/Pap smear) [3] was imple­mented early, the cervical cancer incidence and mortality rate is significantly low. Thus, in Europe, Finland regis­tered the lowest incidence rate (6.2/100,000) and conse­quently, also the lowest mortality rate (3.1/100,000) pre­ceded only by Malta and Switzerland (3.0/100,000) [2].

A wide variation of cervical cancer incidence and mortality rate is observed among countries from the For­mer Yugoslavia (Table 1) [2]. Thus, the lowest incidence rate (16.3/100,000) was registered in the Republic of Macedonia, and the highest in Serbia and Montenegro (34.4/100,000), which is also the highest in Europe, fol­lowed by Romania (30.3/100,000) [2]. The lowest mortal­ity rate (7.8/100,000) from cervical cancer was registered in Slovenia, while Serbia and Montenegro also had the highest mortality rate (15.4/100,000), preceded only by Romania at the European level (18.4/100,000) [2]. Obvi­ously, there is no consensus on management of this disease in the Former Yugoslavia countries. The unequal regional distribution of cervical cancer incidence and mortality probably reflects the differences in the health care systems in each country. On average, the cervical cancer incidence and mortality in all countries from the Former Yugoslavia is higher than those in the four major regions in Europe (Table 1). Such data indicate the need to develop preven­tive measures to control cervical cancer in countries from the Former Yugoslavia.