Asian women shun cervical screening over Covid worries, say experts
South Asian women are the least likely to attend cervical screening appointments due to concerns about Covid-19, a report found this month.
Research from charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust showed that a third of women from a south Asian background do not think it is safe to visit a GP surgery at the moment. It also found that two-thirds of south Asian women believed it was best to delay cervical screening if they were at higher risk of coronavirus, while 90 per cent of them expressed concerns about catching the infection.
Professor Minaxi Desai, a trustee for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said the fear of contracting Covid has become an additional barrier for Asian women, as previous research showed many had voiced reluctance to engage with the screening service.