Due to e-mail addresses remaining unconfirmed at “Latvija.lv” portal, many women in the country may have missed the invitations for government-funded breast and cervical cancer screenings, as notifications in paper form are not sent to women with confirmed e-addresses since 2023, LETA reports.
One woman was waiting for such an invitation since October 2024 until she accidentally noticed it on “Latvija.lv”. She was not aware that she would not receive the invitation in paper form because she has created an e-address.
The National Health Service (NHS) told LETA that invitation letters for examinations are still sent in paper form to some women at their declared address of the place of residence within about three months of their birthday.
In turn, if the woman has created an e-mail address at “Latvija.gov.lv”, then the invitation letter is sent only electronically to the created e-mail address and is not sent in paper form.
NHS issued a notice that in the future invitations for government-funded cervical or breast cancer examinations will be sent electronically if a woman has created an e-mail address on the portal “Latvija.lv” in the spring of 2023.
In Latvia, government-funded is breast cancer screening for women aged 50 to 70 years, cervical cancer screening for women aged 25 to 70 years,
screening for bowel cancer for women and men aged 50 to 70 years and for prostate cancer for all men aged 50 to 75 years, as well as in men aged 45 years and older if the family has a history of prostate cancer.
According to data, in 2023, the response rate for cervical cancer screening was 55.2%, while for breast cancer screening – 36.1%. Information on responsiveness in 2024 will be collected in February, NHS reports.
In the spring of 2024, the State Digital Development Agency (SDAA) invited residents to confirm their e-mail specified in the portal “Latvija.gov.lv”, to which they receive notifications about the information received at the e-mail address. The approval process was necessary to ensure the relevance of the existing data of “Latvija.gov.lv”.