Australia can wipe out human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer if more people get screened, according to the experts. And a self-swab test introduced this year – that is much like a COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) – could help.
The cervical cancer self-screening test became available across Australia in July 2022, but health experts say not everyone is aware of it. Anyone can access the test from a doctor’s clinic and collect their own sample from their vagina.
The self-test is part of a newer, more accurate test for cervical cancer. The new ways of testing replace the previous tests known as ‘Pap smears’.
Alison Barnes is a registered nurse and Wiradjuri woman working at Western Sydney University.
“Self-screening takes away the shame factor,” she said.
“You don’t have somebody else looking at you in a more intimate way that you are comfortable with. You can do it at home or in a room at the clinic, in private.
“In fact, it is just like doing a RAT test only a bit lower down.”
You are still able to have a test conducted by a healthcare professional if you’d prefer. This is done by collecting a sample from the cervix using a speculum.
Who should get screened and when?
If it’s been five years or more since your last screening, you should get tested now.
The National Cervical Screening Program provides a HPV test for all people aged 25-74. Screening is offered at five-year intervals but some people require it more frequently.
It is available for all women and any person with a cervix. This may include transgender men, intersex people and non-binary people.
HPV is the virus that causes cervical cancer – the growth of abnormal cells in the lining of the cervix, inside the birth canal.
It is hoped the self-screening option will help Australia wipe them both out within the next decade.
Contact your GP or healthcare provider to check if you’re due or overdue for a Cervical Screening Test or contact the .
How likely is it that I’ll have HPV?
More than 4.2 million people aged 25–74 participated in cervical screening Australia-wide between 2018-21 according to the NCSP.
In 2021, 11 per cent of all screening HPV tests performed were positive for HPV types that cause cervical cancer.
A self-screening cervical cancer test kit. Credit: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
The Cancer Council’s Professor Karen Canfell says Australia’s cervical cancer death rate has halved since the national screening program was introduced in 1991. But screening rates have fallen since COVID-19 began and she urged all people who are due for testing to get checked.
“The earlier that pre-cancer of cancer is detected, the less invasive the treatment options,” she said.
Karen Canfell from the Cancer Council says the earlier you can get tested, the better. Credit: Cancer Council / Gavin Jowitt/Gavin Jowitt
“We have achieved relatively high survival rates for cervical cancer in Australia, of about 75 per cent at five years.
“And that is higher than for many other cancers.”
Why does screening matter?
Cervical cancer kills more than 200 people in Australia each year, according to Cancer Australia.
Up to 90 per cent of people who died from cervical cancer this year were under-screened or not screened at all, despite being eligible according to government research.
Sydney woman Kirsty Browne is a cervical cancer survivor, who was diagnosed aged 26 despite being vaccinated against HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer.
Kirsty Browne survived cervical cancer. Credit: SBS
“Shock, absolute shock. And it threw my entire life into a completely different course,” the 35-year-old said. “I had a rare and aggressive form of cervical cancer so I needed immediate treatment.”
Kirsty had a new surgical option, which removes the cervix by radical trachelectomy. Traditional cervical cancer surgery often involves a full hysterectomy, which impacts child-bearing options for many women.
“I became one of the first women in Australia to have this fertility-preserving option,” she said.
Kirsty went on to have a child in 2017.
“This no longer needs to be a disease that women are dying from, and it does not need to be a disease that robs young women of their fertility,” she said.
What difference will the new test make?
More than 900 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed in Australia annually and migrant and Indigenous women are over-represented in the statistics.
A recent study by the Journal of Migration and Health found that, among women from South Asian countries, fewer than half knew that HPV could cause cervical cancer.
Migrants from Middle Eastern countries are also less likely than those born in Australia to participate in cervical screening at the recommended interval, according to the study.
Low rates of screening for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and Indigenous communities can translate to higher death rates.
Over the five years from 2016 to 2020, the age-standardised mortality rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 3.8 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians, according to the National Cervical Screening Program.
“Indigenous women die at almost four times the rate of non-Indigenous women in Australia … and the screening rate for Indigenous women currently sits at around 33 per cent,” Ms Barnes said.
“There is shame, there is embarrassment, and there is a sense of not wanting a man or a stranger to be exposed to your private parts.”
Ms Barnes says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can face cultural barriers including limited access to healthcare, low awareness of the need for cervical screening and a lack of culturally safe testing options.
Will people do the new test?
Ms Barnes says the shame factor contributed to the death of one of her family members from cervical cancer.
“She didn’t have a Pap smear for many years thinking she was married and everything was OK. But it was not OK,” she said.
“After she suffered unexplained weight loss, she was tested for cervical cancer and it was positive and she did not survive that experience … And that makes me really angry because it is an entirely preventable death.
“But there is now no excuse for any of my aunties, sisters and cousins. You can go to your doctor, pick up a swab, do it yourself, and drop it back.”
Brooke Toli, with Alison Barnes, welcomes the new test. Credit: SBS / Sandra Fulloon
Brooke Toli is a 34-year-old Dharug woman who welcomes self-screening as a positive change for Indigenous people.
“I have not had a cervical screen for many years now,” she said.
“I had my first one a long time ago, and have not gone back since, because I have not found a GP I am comfortable with and because, until now, it was [to me] an invasive test.
“So being able to get that screen done within a home space, or behind a locked door where women can do it themselves, that will encourage more Indigenous women to get screened.”
Where can I get a test?
“If you can do a rapid antigen test, you can do a cervical screening test,” Ms Barnes said.
Contact your GP or healthcare provider to book a cervical screening test and discuss with them if you would like to do the self-test or have a healthcare professional do it.
There is a Medicare rebate for cervical screening and if your chosen healthcare provider bulk bills there should be no cost to you, but it is best to check when you make the appointment.
More information about the National Cervical Screening Program can be found at
