Why should I do the test?

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers.

Almost all cervical cancers are caused by HPV. HPV stands for human papillomavirus and is a very common infection which usually shows no obvious symptoms. The virus is passed by sexual contact and can infect both men and women.

The Cervical Screening Test detects the presence of HPV. The body can get rid of most HPV infections naturally but if it doesn’t, some types of HPV can cause changes to the cells of your cervix. If these cell changes are not picked up early and treated they can turn into cervical cancer. 

In fact, 80% of women who develop cervical cancer, have never been screened or have not been screened regularly. We can continue to reduce the number of cervical cancer deaths by encouraging more people to get screened. We encourage people to talk to their mum, sisters, aunts and friends about cervical screening.

Put simply, the National Cervical Screening Program saves lives. As cervical cancer survivor Kirsty Browne says, getting screened could be the best decision you ever made.