Reality TV celebrity Jade Goody, who lost her life to cancer at the young age of 27, seems to have had a profound effect on women in the UK. Goody’s televised battle with cervical cancer, has successfully raised women’s awareness of the disease, and encouraged more and more women to regularly get cervical screenings.

The number of screenings in the UK was slowly falling, and many women were ignoring there reminders, and not bothering with the tests at all. It’s thought that Jade’s public battle has been a reality check for women, and has prompted them to take action before it’s too late. The number of cervical screenings has drastically increased since Goody’s death, and numbers still seem to be on the rise. This surprise increase has seen more and more younger women attending screenings all over the country.

On average, 4,500 lives are saved by these screenings every year, and early detection is key to the treatment of this cancer type. It was also reported that the turn around time for results are also on the rise. This increase in testing will in turn save thousands of more lives, and health care professionals hope that Jade’s story is not quickly forgotten, and that this number will continue to grow in the future.