In Australia, 80 per cent of cervical cancers are found in women who are overdue for screening or have never been screened.
“We know there’s an equity issue in our cervical screening program,” said Dr Saville, executive director of the VCS Foundation, a cervical screening not-for-profit.
“Women from lower socio-economic settings, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds do not screen as often … and are more likely to get cancer.”
In a bid to overcome these barriers, a self-testing process was introduced to Australia’s National Cervical Screening Program in 2017.