'Home-based testing for cervical cancer will help save lives'

A correspondent writes about self-testing kits for cervical cancer. See letter

Amid the lengthening crisis that the political classes have created over Brexit comes the excellent news that women in Britain will have the opportunity to use self-testing kits in their own homes to test for cervical cancer.

This will reveal any abnormal cells in the cervix at an early stage.

It is now 13 years since my wife, aged 59, died from the dreadful disease.

She was diagnosed late some three years earlier because of inaccurate screening.

The test concluded wrongly that the cervix was clear of the human papillomavirus (HPV).

I know she would have welcomed the introduction of home-based testing to avoid the many thousands of unnecessary deaths.

It will have the dramatic effect of reversing the sad decline, over recent years, in the number of women attending for screening.

I would urge the UK National Screening Committee not only to support HPV home self-testing kits for women and girls from 12 to 64, but to include all women - including those aged 65 and over - for testing by this method.

E G

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