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’.

Campaign key messages:

For Maori women 30-50

• cervical cancer is caused by a very common virus: HPV.  But you can stop this cancer before it starts
• HPV is a very common virus that most women will have at some stage. Genital HPV is a sexually transmitted infection
• you can develop HPV without knowing it, even if you are no longer sexually active - and regardless of age
• HPV usually has no symptoms, so the only way to know you are affected is to have regular smear tests every three years
• a smear test can pick up cell changes that can lead to cervical cancer
• cell changes can then be monitored and treated before cancer develops
• if you’re aged between 20 and 70 and have ever been sexually active, having a smear test every three years could save your life – so you can be there for your whanau in the future
• make sure you - and those you care about - know how cervical cancer affects you and what you can do to protect yourself from getting it.

For Pacific women 30-50 and their family and friends

• cervical cancer is caused by a common virus called HPV. Genital HPV is a sexually transmitted infection
• most of the women you care about are likely to have HPV at some stage in their lives
• it normally doesn’t have any symptoms, so they won’t know they have HPV unless they have regular smear tests
• women you care about who are aged between 20 and 70 need to have a smear test every three years
• regular smear tests every three years can pick up cell changes caused by HPV so that these can be monitored and treated before they develop into cancer
• by encouraging them to have a smear test every three years, you could save their life
• we need to be more open about cervical cancer - talk about cervical cancer with those you care about.