Sydney Mardi Gras Fair Day is set to offer more than fun and festivities this year, promising an essential health opportunity for the LGBTQ+ community to make the most of free cervical and breast cancer screenings.
Taking place on Sunday, 16 February, Fair Day will host the free cervical screenings as part of the national ‘Own It’ campaign, thanks to a collaboration between ACON, the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, and the Cancer Institute NSW.
There will also be mammograms available through the BreastScreen van, as well as consultations with Family Planning NSW to help guide attendees through the process.
Alarmingly, over 70 per cent of Australians diagnosed with cervical cancer are either never screened or under-screened, per the Department of Health and Aged Care.
On top of this, previous research suggests around a third (37 per cent) of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in NSW haven’t been screened in the past five years and almost half of transgender and gender-diverse people with a cervix have never had a cervical screening test.
Not to delve into a health class here buuuut the cervical screening test — which replaced the pap smear in 2017 — detects the human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of nearly all cervical cancers.
The test’s pretty quick, with a self-swab option that’s just as accurate as the provider-collected sample, and early detection can prevent cervical cancer altogether.
TLDR; regular screenings are essential.
If you’re between 25 and 74 and have a cervix, medical authorities say you should be getting a cervical screening test every five years, no matter your sexual history, HPV vaccination status, or whether you’re sexually active.
And when it comes to breast screening, we’ve done some of the reading for you — all asymptomatic women, cis and trans, aged 40 and over are eligible for a free breast screen. (And in case you’re wondering… yup, they’re generally safe if you have implants too.)
So we say make the most of a good opportunity — and here’s hoping you have an amazing Mardi Gras!!
Lead image: Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras
The post Sydney Fair Day Is Doing Free Breast & Cervical Cancer Screenings This Sunday appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
