Cervical Screening Community Engagement Grants
Under the National Strategy for the Elimination of Cervical Cancer in Australia, the Commonwealth has provided NSW with funding to implement innovative screening models to reach under screened populations.
The purpose of the Cervical Screening Community Engagement Grants is to support organisations to develop tailored solutions to improve awareness and reach of cervical screening for women and people with a cervix aged 25-74 years in the following populations:
- Aboriginal communities
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities
- LGBTQ+ communities
- People with disability
The objective of the Cervical Screening Community Engagement Grants is to increase the utilisation of cervical screening services within these target communities.
2025 Grant Recipients
Administering Institution: Armajun Aboriginal Health Service
Funding (excl. GST): $120,000
Key priority population: Aboriginal communities
Project: Armajun Aboriginal Health Service is committed to increasing cervical screening among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 25–74 through a culturally safe, community-led approach. The project prioritises self-collection, aiming for 80% uptake, with clinical support from Aboriginal Health Workers (AHWs), midwives, or Registered Nurses (RNs) available as needed.
Workforce capacity will be strengthened by training three female AHWs, mentoring them alongside RNs in Cervical Screening Test (CST) delivery, and investing in ongoing women’s health education for future AHWs and nurses. This supports sustainability, continuity of care, and community trust.
Health promotion will be delivered through outreach clinics, women’s groups, playgroups, cultural events (e.g., NAIDOC), and existing health programs. The midwife will reinforce postnatal screening, and all staff will provide opportunistic education to improve screening, immunisation, and reproductive health literacy.
A secondary outcome includes prevention education in high schools during Gardasil 9 (HPV) vaccine delivery. This initiative empowers women and girls to make informed health decisions, reduces cervical cancer incidence, and strengthens cultural safety and intergenerational care.
Administering Institution: Awabakal Medical Service
Funding (excl. GST): $176,766
Key priority population: Aboriginal communities
Project: This project addresses a critical health gap for Aboriginal women (and people with a cervix) aged 25-74 years by implementing a comprehensive, culturally safe, and inclusive cervical cancer screening and detection program. National evidence indicates Aboriginal women have 20% lower cervical screening participation rates, twice the incidence of cervical cancer and are 3.7 times more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Aboriginal women.
1) Colposcopy follow-up for high-grade cervical abnormalities remains low, with at least 50% experiencing delayed care at three months through standard care pathways.
2) We aim to improve the capacity of cervical screening through education and training of Registered Nurses (RNs) and Aboriginal Health Practitioners (AHPs), to provide improved client education and increased self- and clinician-collected screening. This allows increased capacity for screening for planned and opportunistic collection during a 715 health assessment. Regular outreach consumer education events conducted at Awabakal Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) will increase uptake of cervical screening in community. Providing care within a culturally safe environment is known to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.
3) Rapid referral to in-house colposcopy will provide continuity of care within a community setting and improve early cervical cancer detection and timeliness to treatment.
Administering Institution: Bankstown Women’s Health Centre
Funding (excl. GST): $180,000
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: Bankstown Women’s Health Centre (BWHC) proposes a culturally inclusive Cervical Screening Engagement Initiative to increase awareness, accessibility, and participation in cervical screening among priority communities, including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women, Aboriginal women, Women with disabilities, and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups. This project will utilise a community-led approach to address barriers such as misinformation, fear, and lack of access.
Activities will include:
- Culturally tailored health promotion workshops co-designed with local women to provide accurate
- information in a safe, supportive space.
- Targeted outreach and partnerships with community organisations, GPs, and religious and cultural groups to
- improve accessibility.
- Multilingual marketing campaigns (social media, print, and in-person) to increase awareness and reduce
- stigma.
- Onsite screening clinics and supported referrals, ensuring women can easily access screening services.
By fostering trust, improving health literacy, and removing structural barriers, this initiative aims to empower women to prioritise their cervical health, ultimately increasing screening rates and early detection in high-risk groups. The project aligns with Cancer Institute NSW’s goal of eliminating cervical cancer by promoting equitable access to life saving screening services.
Administering Institution: CanRevive Inc.
Funding (excl. GST): $178,748
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: This project initiative, “Cervical Screening Without Boundaries,” targets under-screened Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Indonesian women in Sydney to improve cervical screening participation through culturally tailored strategies. Despite the National Cervical Screening Program’s success (68.3% nationally 1, participation among eligible CALD women remains significantly lower due to barriers such as language gaps, cultural stigma, and low health literacy2,3 ,
CanRevive in collaboration with CASS Care and South Western Sydney Nursing and Midwifery Research Alliance (SWS NMRA), our project will co-design interventions via focus groups to identify key challenges. CanRevive brings 30 years of experience delivering trusted, culturally sensitive cancer support services for Chinese communities. CASS Care provides a wide range of services—from childcare to aged care—engaging CALD families across multiple language groups, spans across generations, offering continuous engagement with women from early motherhood through to later life. SWS NMRA, led by internationally recognised researcher Professor Josephine Chow, contributes person-centred research and digital health innovation capabilities to ensure a rigorous and impactful program design.
Culturally adapted resources—including multilingual videos, community talks, and branded materials—will be developed and shared via trusted platforms to increase awareness and participation.
Administering Institution: COORDINARE – South Eastern NSW Primary Health Network
Funding (excl. GST): $180,000
Key priority population: Aboriginal communities
Project: This project aims to increase cervical screening participation among Aboriginal women aged 25-74 in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region, where participation remains significantly lower than the national average. COORDINARE-South Eastern NSW PHN will partner with Grand Pacific Health (GPH), local General Practitioners (GPs), Aboriginal Health Workers, and Elders to co-design and deliver a culturally safe, community-led cervical screening initiative.
The project will be informed by Yarning Circles with Aboriginal Elders to explore barriers and enablers to screening, and will incorporate storytelling, art, and cultural knowledge to guide engagement approaches. A comprehensive campaign will include Women's Health and Screening Days, and culturally appropriate education resources featuring locally designed artwork.
GPs and health professionals will be supported through education events and a purpose-built eLearning module to increase cultural safety in clinical settings. COORDINARE's Healthcare Coordination Consultants will promote the initiative across GP networks, and a dedicated website Will provide ongoing access to tools and materials.
The program's sustainability will be ensured through resource integration into local Health Pathways, adoption by the Southern NSW LH D, ongoing professional development opportunities, and community ownership. This initiative aims to create lasting change by embedding cervical screening in routine care and culturally safe community practice.
Administering Institution: KMG West Wyalong
Funding (excl. GST): $180,000
Key priority population: Aboriginal communities, people with disability, LGBTQ+ people
Project: Connected Care: Community-led Cervical Screening Awareness aims to increase cervical screening participation among under-screened populations in West Wyalong, a rural community in NSW. The project will focus on Aboriginal communities, LGBTQ+ communities, and people with disability—groups that experience compounded barriers to care including geographic isolation, stigma, limited access to culturally safe services, and low health literacy.
In partnership with community leaders and local health providers, we will co-design and deliver culturally appropriate health education sessions, peer-led workshops, and accessible screening services. A strong emphasis will be placed on offering self-collection options alongside health professional support to enhance comfort and accessibility.
By embedding this initiative within trusted community networks, we aim to engage individuals aged 25–74 throughout the life of the program. Impact will be measured through pre- and post-session surveys, screening uptake data, and qualitative community feedback. Our goal is to empower priority populations in rural and remote areas to take charge of their cervical health and actively contribute to Australia’s national strategy to eliminate cervical cancer.
Administering Institution: Metro Assist
Funding (excl. GST): $120,000
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: The 2-year Cervical Screening Community Engagement project aims to raise awareness about cervical screening among six key communities: Bengali, Rohingya, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, and Afghan. The project will deliver targeted educational sessions using in-language resources tailored to each group’s cultural and linguistic needs. Prior to each round of sessions, community leaders will be consulted and engaged to ensure cultural appropriateness and relevance. These leaders, will be trained to co-deliver the sessions along with healthcare specialists from local health districts, fostering trust and cultural safety.
Following the educational sessions, participants will collaborate to co-design in-language awareness campaigns. These campaigns will feature impactful, culturally resonant messages to encourage screening participation, and will be shared across our social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WeChat, to maximise community reach and engagement.
To further support community wellbeing, “Pamper Days” will be organised to offer wellbeing activities and promote self-care for each community. These events will provide a relaxed environment for clients to learn about the importance of preventive health, including cervical screening, within the broader context of holistic wellbeing. Cervical cancer survivors will be invited to share their live experience. A pop-up clinic will be organised at the venue to check women due for a screening.
Administering Institution: Nourish Nation Foundation
Funding (excl. GST): $100,000
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: This project aims to increase awareness, understanding, and participation in the National Cervical Screening Program among under-screened women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds—particularly South Asian, Middle Eastern, and African communities—in regional New South Wales. Led by Nourish Nation Foundation, the project will be delivered in partnership with the Country Women's Association Griffith, Griffith Sikh Community, Griffith Gujarati Community, Riverina Nepalese Community, Nari Nikunja Women Forum of NRNA Australia, Smart Health Global Australia, the Multicultural Council of Wagga Wagga, and the Multicultural Council of Griffith.
The initiative will involve culturally tailored workshops, community health talks, and one-on-one engagement delivered in community languages. Trained bicultural facilitators will lead conversations around the importance of regular cervical screening, address fears and myths, and link women to culturally appropriate screening services.
Activities will be conducted in key locations including Wagga Wagga, Griffith, and surrounding Riverina regions, directly engaging at least 300 CALD women. Broader awareness will be supported through community radio, social media outreach, and printed multilingual materials.
This project strongly aligns with the Cancer Institute NSW’s goal of reducing cervical cancer disparities by improving access, confidence, and participation among high-priority populations.
Administering Institution: The University of Newcastle
Funding (excl. GST): $177,102
Key priority population: LGBTQ+ people
Project: Trans and gender diverse (TGD) people experience increased risk factors for cervical cancer 1 but are less likely to access preventative cancer care 2. A 2019 study 2 found:
• 48% of TGD people had never participated in cervical screening- significantly higher than 32% of the general population
• >25% of TGD people who had been screened reported abnormal results, indicating unmet health needs.
Despite being identified as a priority population in both National 3 and NSW cancer plans4, limited evidence exists about how to improve cervical screening for TGD people. Self-collection of samples offers a promising way to increase screening by reducing discomfort and stigma related to clinician collection. However, these options must be supported by inclusive materials and messages. Recent campaigns ‘Can We’ and the national ‘Own It’ promote screening among LGBTQ+ people 5, however, are not TGD specific. Gendered imagery and language still exclude trans men who have a cervix, showing clear need for TGD-tailored materials6.
This TGD-led project will improve cervical screening for TGD people by:
1) Generating evidence about the screening experiences and preferences of TGD people in NSW,
2) Enhance campaigns by co-creating inclusive cervical cancer health promotion materials for TGD people.
Administering Institution: The Water Well Project
Funding (excl. GST): $60,275
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: This project will deliver a community engagement initiative to improve awareness and participation in cervical screening among refugee, migrant, and asylum seeker women in NSW.
Building on our successful delivery of the ‘Own It ‘Cervical Screening campaign, this project will focus on delivering free, culturally responsive, health education sessions to approximately 400 underserved Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) women.
Through new and existing partnerships with key multicultural organisations, we will identify priority groups, co-design appropriate engagement and education strategies, train healthcare professionals and create and disseminate culturally appropriate cervical health resources.
Our health education sessions will be delivered by trained female AHPRA-registered healthcare professionals, supported by accredited interpreters and culturally appropriate materials. Sessions will be tailored to the needs of each community group and held in their usual meeting space. Accurate and timely health education will be delivered in an informal and interactive way, encouraging open and direct dialogue between participants and healthcare professionals.
By reaching a wide network of women who are at risk of being under-screened and experiencing poorer health outcomes, this project will build trust, address misconceptions and empower women to make informed decisions about their health, ultimately increasing cervical screening rates and supporting equitable access to preventative healthcare across NSW.
Administering Institution: University of Technology Sydney
Funding (excl. GST): $179,792
Key priority population: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD)
Project: While there are no data concerning the cancer screening uptake of refugee women in NSW, one study from Queensland [1] and several in the USA identify rates of 14-60% [2-4] significantly short of the WHO’s goal of 70% screening coverage for cervical cancer elimination by 2030 [5].
This project will; deliver detailed visualisations of cervical cancer screening uptake and gaps for women of refugee background from 2001 and engage community members and service providers (Western and South Western Sydney local health districts (LHDs), the Western Multicultural Resource Centre (WSMRC) and the Community Migrant Resource Centre (CMRC)) in workshops to identify priorities and tailored action plans for implementation to improve awareness and reach of cervical screening.