First Nations women face an increased risk of developing cervical cancer, a result of systemic failures that have led to under-screening and late detection of precancerous lesions.
A new project, SISTASCREEN at Southern Cross University, has just been awarded $2,498,994 over three years to codesign and implement strategies to increase the uptake of opportunistic cervical screening during pregnancy and postpartum for First Nations women.
Currently, First Nations women have more than twice the incidence of cervical cancer and nearly four times the mortality rate compared to non-Indigenous women. Structural barriers like a lack of access to culturally safe screening and stigma have played a key role in this reality.
Worimi woman Dr Marilyn Clarke is the project’s chief investigator and says SISTASCREEN aims to increase cervical screening rates for First Nations women by offering the test during routine antenatal checkups.
“Antenatal visits at their local Aboriginal community-controlled health service is an opportunistic time to engage First Nations women in cervical screening in a way which ensures culturally safety and empowerment,” Dr Clarke said.
Dr Clarke is an obstetrician and gynaecologist who has been working on Gumbaynggirr country for the past 20 years.
“Engaging women early in positive cervical screening experiences and treatment pathways will set them up to engage in regular screening during their life course beyond the pregnancy. SISTASCREEN aims to ensure First Nations women are not left behind as Australia works towards the elimination of cervical cancer,” said Dr Clarke.
The project will be delivered by Southern Cross University in partnership with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO).
NACCHO CEO, Pat Turner AM, said for too long, First Nations women have faced barriers to screening and care for cervical cancer, an issue rooted in systems “that weren’t designed for us, by us”.
“The truth is, we cannot eliminate cervical cancer in Australia while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women continue to be left behind,” Turner said.
“SISTASCREEN is about more than closing a gap in statistics. It’s about putting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women at the centre of solutions, embedding screening and care within our own health services, led by our own workforce, in a way that is culturally safe and empowering.
“This project gives us the chance to reach women at a critical moment in their lives, while they are pregnant and engaging with antenatal care, so that we can support their health and wellbeing, now and into the future.”
The program will initally be run at six sites that have been selected as partners. The first site is Bullinah Aboriginal Health Service in Ballina on the NSW north coast.
“We’ll work primarily with six early adopter sites. Once we’ve co-created and codesigned the resources, we then hope to then roll it out to 50 sites across the NACCHO network,” Dr Clarke says. “At the same time, we want to increase the capacity and skill level of the First Nations workforce.”
“SISTASCREEN will build the capacity of health providers to have the confidence and knowledge to offer pregnant First Nations women a self-collected or clinician-collected cervical screening test.”
Feature image: Dr Marilyn Clarke.