Migrant women and cervical cancer: background of a prevention study

The study was scheduled in order to organize a program of prevention against cervical cancer in female migrants in Rome, and therefore to facilitate access to appropriate preventive oncological facilities for discriminated women. Moreover, the study will also investigate the risk factors and social conditions (HPV-subtypes, sexual behavior, smoking habits) of such women since their migration to Italy. This is scientific and cultural background of a longitudinal, observational study on the cervical cancer risk in Roman migrant population. By means of a mother language questionnaire (with the presence of a cultural mediator) it will be possible to achieve data on social conditions and the new life-style. An HPV-testing (HC2) combined with Pap-test (with further genotype distribution) will be performed in all women enrolled in the study. Further diagnostic/therapeutic decisions will depend on the results of both tests. Scientific results are expected in the next two years, but an increasing of cancer prevention awareness among female migrant populations is expected from the beginning of the program. The present study was aimed at culturally appropriate intervention strategies to limit the disparities that migrants usually suffer in most of the developed Western nations in respect to the native counterparts.