Cancer Council Australia invited submissions on their update to the National Cervical Screening Program Guidelines. The revision marks a comprehensive update, examining new evidence to ensure the Guidelines are as up to date as possible.
LHA has written in support of the revisions, while suggesting some changes to language used when describing the population requiring screening. Our submission suggested Cancer Council Australia develop strategies to enhance the cultural competence of education efforts, tailoring information to the unique needs and experiences of LGBTIQ+ individuals to improve awareness and participation in cervical cancer screening programs.
LHA advised further consideration for people born with innate variations in sex characteristics and their participation in screening, encouraging the Cancer Council to engage directly with LHA’s Full Member organisations IHRA (ihra.org.au) and Intersex Peer Support Australia (IPSA, isupport.org.au) to ensure respectful nomenclature and culturally competent approaches.