This cancer is preventable, but not enough women are testing for it

Shanny Pyke had no reason to think she might have cancer.

She felt healthier, happier and more energetic than she had in a long time, so when it came time to have her five-year cervical screening test during the pandemic, she put it off, thinking it was more trouble than it was worth.

Two years later, Pyke’s GP ordered a cervical screening test after she started experiencing night sweats and an irregular period. She assumed her symptoms were signs of early menopause, but the test came back positive for human papillomavirus (HPV), and a biopsy confirmed she had cervical cancer that had spread into the surrounding tissue.

Shanny Pyke’s cervical cancer diagnosis left her determined to educate women about the need to test for the preventable disease.Credit: Jessica Hromas

“It’s probably the saddest and most scared I’ve ever felt,” the 46-year-old said. “People say they don’t have time [for a screening test], or it makes them uncomfortable, but nothing takes away your time and makes you more uncomfortable than going through that treatment.”

Pyke’s cancer is now under control and monitored with six-monthly scans.

Almost 40 per cent of women in NSW are overdue for the five-year screening test that is a cornerstone of Australia’s push to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health issue.

On Monday, Health Minister Ryan Park and Minister for Women Jodie Harrison will launch a social media and radio campaign urging anyone over 25 with a cervix to ensure they are up-to-date with their testing.

“A cervical screening test every five years is the best way to prevent cervical cancer, a disease that kills one in every three Australians diagnosed,” Park said.

HPV is a sexually transmitted and typically symptomless disease that is the cause of almost all cervical cancer cases. In Australia, a screening test is recommended for any woman between the ages of 25 and 74 who has ever had sex – even if they have received the HPV vaccine.

Since 2022, women have been able to conduct the test themselves, in private at a medical centre, without a doctor or nurse present. It has proved extremely popular, accounting for a third of tests collected so far in 2024.

Professor Tracey O’Brien, the state’s chief cancer officer, said the uptake was encouraging, but the 300 people diagnosed with cervical cancer in NSW every year was still too many.

The campaign will target women between 30 and 50 in particular and aims to reach multicultural and Indigenous communities with resources translated into 10 languages. The campaign coincides with a national campaign aimed at improving screening among women with disabilities.

Professor Karen Canfell, a leading cancer epidemiologist at the University of Sydney, said Australia’s self-testing regime was world-leading and had been effective at reaching communities that did not usually have high rates of testing.

“It’s been transformative,” Canfell said. “ [The] theory that self-collection would make testing much more acceptable seems to be proving true.”

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