Kentish Express Ashford & District
Smear test stats fall to 20-year low
A woman who filmed herself having her first smear test says she is pleased action is being taken as the number of people going for screenings has fallen to a 20-year low.
Public Health England has launched a national campaign to encourage more women across England to attend their cervical screening after the figure dropped to its lowest point in two decades.
New figures released this week by the health authority show that a quarter of eligible women (those aged between 25 - 64) in the UK are not attending their test.
The screening is designed to detect the early signs of cervical cancer - a disease which kills around two women every day.
Last year, Sophie Brandon - who lives in Willesborough and runs a barber shop in High Halden - decided to share her first smear test by filming it while it was being carried out and posting it onto social media.
The 25-year-old says she posted the video on her Facebook page to show her friends how quick and easy the test is after they raised concerns.
More than 7,000 people viewed the video of her cervical screening since she uploaded it in June.
The new initiative - branded ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ - hopes to increase the number of women attending their cervical screening across the country.
More than 2,500 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer across the country each year.
It is thought that if everyone went for a screening regularly, 83% of cases could be prevented.
Miss Brandon said: “It is painless and I barely felt a thing. You can feel something happening but it does not hurt.”