BENDIGO has one of the lowest pap screening rates in Victoria.
From January 2005 until December 2006, only 58.4 per cent of those who should be screened did so.
According to the Victorian Cervical Cytology Registry statistical report 2006, Bendigo was the third worst performing
region out of 32 divisions of general practice across the state.
Women’s health nurse Jac Griffiths believes the statistics are shocking.
“If all women who were meant to have pap smears did and did so on time, we would eliminate 75 per cent of cervical cancers,” she said.
Miss Griffiths said many women were reluctant to be screened out of embarassment, rural or regional isolation, a lack of female practitioners or because they had prior bad experiences with pap smears.
Mental and physical disability are also barriers to pap screening.
“Body image is also a big issue for a lot of women,” Miss Griffiths said.
“But it is putting women more at risk of cervical cancer.
“The purpose is not to find cancer, but to find abnormal changes before cancer occurs so we can either watch it or we can step in and treat it.
“But if there are long gaps between pap smears something may be missed and it’s a significant time for something quite serious to develop.”
Miss Griffiths said 99.9 per cent of cervical cancers were related to high-risk wart viruses that were
active and persistent.
“It’s usually coupled with smoking and a woman not having pap smears on a regular basis,” she said.
In Australia, regular pap tests save more than 1200 women from cervical cancer each year.
Most women who
develop cervical cancer have either never had a pap test or did not have them regularly.
Women should have pap tests between the ages of 18 to 20 years, or one to two years after first sexual activity.
All women between the ages of 18 and 70 who have ever been sexually
active should have a pap test every two years.