Screening for cervical cancer
If you’re a woman aged 25 or older, a cervical screening test every five years is recommended. Cervical screening helps women stop getting cervical cancer and it means fewer women die from it.
There is a way to do cervical screening known as self-collection. Yarn with your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker and they’ll help you work out if it’s the right test for you. Find out more about self-collection.
Your doctor or health worker can also arrange for you to have the HPV immunisation which is designed to help prevent cervical cancer. Read about this and other immunisations here.
Screening for bowel cancer
Everyone between the ages of 50 and 74 can have a free bowel cancer screening test. You can get the kit in the mail or from your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker. Follow the simple instructions on how to use it. It can detect bowel cancer early, when it is much easier to treat.
Noongar man Bruce explains how to do the test.
I you want some deadly music by mob to encourage you to go through with the bowel cancer screening tests, here’s a song called ‘The Bowel Cancer Blues’ by Victorian mob and one called ‘Check ‘em’ from the Muludja community in the Kimberley.
If you haven’t been sent the bowel cancer screening test, you can ask your doctor, nurse or Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander health worker. You can also phone 1800 627 701 for the National Cancer Screening Register or 1800 930 998 for the Bowel Screening Test Kit helpline and ask for them to send you one.