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Associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced that the Government’s 2021 Budget would include funding of $53 million for an easier test for human papillomavirus (HPV), the precursor to cervical cancer.
Every year about 160 people develop cervical cancer and about 50 die from it. For an increasing number of people, a smear test isn’t enough to detect cancer.
Women’s health doctor and senior research fellow at Victoria University of Wellington Jane MacDonald said screening for the virus through a vaginal swab, rather than abnormal cells in the cervix using a speculum, was a less invasive and more effective way to test.