The uptake of self-swabbing for HPV screening is poorly utilised in Australia with fewer than 1% of eligible women doing it, new figures show.

As the Federal Health Department considers expanding self-collection to all women to boost screening rates, data show fewer than 6000 women overdue for screening have completed a self-collected test.

But there’s an estimated one million women who could be eligible, reveal screening experts in a letter to the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA).

The letter, penned by Dr Megan Smith (PhD) and Professor Karen Canfell from the Cancer Council NSW, and Professor Marion Saville from the Victorian Cytology Service say the figures are based on 2018 and 2019 data from Medicare, the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) and VCS Pathology.