On 18 September 2007, a campaign to encourage women to have regular cervical smears as part of the National Cervical Screening Programme was launched.

The campaign, which includes eight television commercials, has a strong focus on Māori and Pacific women because of their higher rates of cervical cancer and lower rates of cervical screening. Information is also provided to Asian women.

The campaign was developed to complement existing work carried out by Providers, with the overall aim of increasing the number of Māori and Pacific women who have regular cervical smears as part of the Programme.

In 2009, a variety of advertising is taking place including: television, radio, ad shels, magazines, on-line, in medical centres; and in Maori, Pacific and Asian media.  Once again, additional resources will be put into the promotion of September as ‘Cervical Screening Awareness Month’.