Participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women
The standard method used to calculate participation earlier in this report, defined as the number of participants aged 25–74 screened in a 5-year period as a percentage of eligible females in the population, cannot be used to calculate participation by Indigenous status, as Indigenous status in the NCSR is not sufficiently complete.
An alternative methodology for estimating participation in cervical screening by Indigenous status was developed by Professor John Condon and endorsed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and NACCHO. It is anticipated that this alternative methodology could allow national cervical screening participation by Indigenous status to be reported until such time as the completeness of Indigenous status in the NCSR is sufficiently high to support reporting of participation by Indigenous status using the standard method.
A thorough review over the past 18 months has confirmed that the alternative methodology is robust and appropriate, but cannot overcome the degree of missing Indigenous status data in the NCSR to support meaningful participation data. Work continues to progress this reporting priority.