• A sharp decrease in the number of gynecologists has been observed in France.

    The Pays-de-la-Loire region is no exception to the rule.

  • This Wednesday, an unprecedented information campaign to better guide women in their gynecological care journey was launched in the Pays-de-la-Loire.

The finding is final and national.

There is a notable and steady decline in the number of gynecologists in France, and the Pays-de-la-Loire region is unfortunately no exception.

Between 2020 and 2021, the number of medical gynecologists decreased by 5.8% to 35 specialists across the region, or 2.2 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants.

A drop of 2.1% is also noted for obstetrician-gynecologists, with 8.9 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants.

This shortage – largely caused by the abolition in 1987 of the medical gynecology specialty by the ministry for, in particular, financial reasons [the specialty had been restored in 2003] – is not without posing many concerns for women.

It is to remedy these problems that the Health Insurance in Pays-de-la-Loire, the URML (regional union of liberal doctors) and the URPS Midwives launched, this Wednesday afternoon, "a unprecedented information campaign to better guide women in their gynecological care journey, inform them about the health professionals involved in this "intimate health journey", and fight against certain received ideas", according to Thomas Bouvier, deputy director of the CPAM du 44. A regional campaign that could well spread all over France…

An “unprecedented” campaign in Pays-de-la-Loire

Because some figures are worrying.

"Only 1/3 of young girls are vaccinated against the human papillomavirus," says Thomas Bouvier.

And only half of women over 60 have been screened for cervical cancer.

“There is a real lack of knowledge of the intimate health journey of women, it is time to have coordinated action on a regional scale…”, assures Pascal Rochois, director of the CPAM of 72.

And the message is clear through this "unprecedented" campaign: in addition to gynecologists, general practitioners and midwives can perform all or part of the consultations related to the gynecological health journey of women, from adolescence to the period. post-menopause.

Especially since in the region, the number of midwives is constantly increasing (+ 23% between 2017 and 2021) and that of general practitioners does not stop increasing either (3,158 including 1,392 in Loire-Atlantique) as well. .

A midwife can get an appointment faster with a gynecologist

“A midwife can screen a woman in good health and prescribe contraception, explains for example Célia Tomasi, who exercises this profession in Vendée.

For more important concerns, she can then refer to the gynecologist more quickly.

»

Doctor Pia De Reilhac, gynecologist in Nantes, regrets the received ideas: “Too many women think that gynecological follow-up stops from the menopause, that after a certain age, mammography is no longer necessary by example.

On the contrary, it is during this period that there are the most cancers.

Informing and breaking down prejudices are therefore the two objectives of this campaign launched this Wednesday in the region.

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