Dr. Emerlita Gallardo, President of the Philippine Australian Medical Association and GP-Director of Greater West Medical Centre, Mt Druitt will speak about the importance of Cervical Screening on 1st December 2018 at the Filipino event at Mt Druitt Community Hall from 10 am to 2 pm.
The National Cervical Screening Program recommends females, from 25-74 to have a cervical screening test every 5 years.
Getting a screening test decreases the chance of getting cervical cancer. The test checks the health of woman’s cervix and looks for the human papillomavirus referred to as HPV. The HPV can cause changes to the cells of the cervix which in rare cases may develop into cancer.
It usually takes 10-15 years for the infection to grow into cancer, which is the reason why getting a CST every 5 years can catch HPV infection or cancer at an early stage before it becomes serious. The CST can be done by your own doctor or nurse and at no cost. Just bring your Medicare card. The test replaces the Pap [Smear] test.