From 1 January 2025, the HPV test will be the first test to be used to detect cervical cancer. Patients will also be reimbursed by the health fund. The decision has just been taken by outgoing Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Flemish socialist/Vooruit). The universal application of the test follows a plea from former socialist politician Stephanie Van Houtven, who died from the effects of cervical cancer last year.
In 2020, Stephanie Van Houtven was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Classic smear tests had never shown any abnormal values and so no further tests were ever done. The HPV test that would have set alarm bells ringing was not used.
That HPV test detects the human papillomavirus (HPV). A smear is still needed, but it is no longer examined for abnormal cells but for the presence of cancer-causing HPV.
‘The classic smear has had its day. An HPV test is much more accurate,’ experts confirm. Ms Van Houtven raised the issue on VRT’s Terzake show in 2022: ‘For me it is too late, but not for other women,’ she noted. The former Flemish socialist vice-president died in late July 2023 at the age of 40.