New Bradford campaign aims to bust myth over cervical screening (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

New Bradford campaign aims to bust myth over cervical screening

9:40pm Saturday 22nd May 2010 in

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A myth-busting campaign aims to encourage more lesbian and bisexual women in Bradford and Airedale to get screened for cervical cancer.

NHS Bradford and Airedale has worked with Bradford’s Equity Partnership to develop a new patient information leaflet aimed specifically at lesbian and bisexual women.

It follows research which showed that many lesbian and bisexual women did not think they needed to be screened for cervical cancer.

The leaflet, titled ‘Women who only have sex with women do need cervical screening’, has been written by a lesbian for lesbians and bisexual women.

It aims to bust some of the myths stopping this group of women from getting screened for cervical cancer, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Research carried out by the Equity Partnership revealed that more than 70 per cent of lesbian and bisexual women who responded to its survey had not had cervical screening.

When questioned further, some of the women said they thought cervical screening was only for women who had sex with men, and others said their health professional had told them they did not need to be screened.

In fact there is clear evidence that cervical cancer, mainly caused by a virus. can be passed between women having sex with women and some women may have had sex with men in the past which could have put them at risk.

Training is also being developed for health professionals to raise awareness of the importance of screening for all women, regardless of their sexuality.

Lesley Hedges, women’s health worker at the Equity Partnership, said the awareness campaign would help raise the profile of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community and their specific health needs. She said: “I hope the new leaflet will make lesbian and bisexual women more aware of the risk of cervical cancer and the importance of regular screening.

“Women have told us they want more information, so we’ve worked with them to develop an eye-catching leaflet that helps them understand the facts rather than believe the myths.”

Lynne Carter, equality and diversity manager at NHS Bradford and Airedale, said: “Cervical screening is really important for all women and I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to work with the Equity Partnership to get to the heart of the issues which have prevented some women from getting screened.”