Assigned female at birth/Presumed female at birth.

Assigned male at birth/Presumed male at birth.

In Australia, the bowel cancer screening test is a clean and simple test that you do at home (called the Home Test Kit), which looks for very small amounts of blood in the bowel motion (faeces or poo) that may be a sign of bowel cancer or other bowel problems. It is known as an immunochemical faecal occult blood test or iFOBT.

Breast screening (also called mammograms) are used to detect early signs of breast cancer. They usually involve two x-ray pictures of each breast. These pictures can find cancers as small as a grain of rice - before you or your doctor can detect any changes in your breasts.

Cancer is a term used for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade nearby tissues. Cancer can affect any part of the body. Although no two cancers are the same, all cancers have one thing in common. Every cancer starts when some cells in the body become abnormal and grow and multiply out of control.

A Cervical Screening Test prevents cervical cancer by detecting the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the cause of almost all cervical cancers.

A term used to describe people who identify their gender as the same as what was presumed for them at birth (male or female). ‘Cis’ is a Latin term meaning ‘on the same side as.

HPV stands for human papillomavirus. There are over 100 types of HPV, which affect different parts of the body. In rare cases, certain types of HPV can cause cervical cancer.

Around 80% of people will have an HPV infection at some point in their lives, but the vast majority will not develop cervical cancer. For most people, HPV will be cleared on its own by the body’s immune system within one or two years, with no harmful effects.

Intersex people are born with naturally occurring and very normal differences of chromosomes, gonads (ovaries and testes), hormones, and/or genitals. There are more than 40 different ways to be intersex. People may find out they are intersex at many different points including when they are born, during puberty, when trying to conceive a pregnancy, by random chance, and some people never find out. For more information about intersex, visit IHRA (Intersex Human Rights Australia).

The classification recorded when a child’s birth is registered. In NSW, this is either M or F at birth and can later be amended to either M, F or X.

‘LGBTQ’ is an acronym for ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer’. This acronym is an umbrella terms used to refer to sexuality and gender diverse people.

This is an umbrella term for any number of gender identities that sit within, outside of, across or between the spectrum of the male and female binary. A non-binary person might identify as genderfluid, trans masculine, trans feminine, agender, bigender etc.

From 1 December 2017, the Pap test changed to a more accurate Cervical Screening Test. The Cervical Screening Test detects the presence of an HPV infection, which can be the first step in developing cervical cancer, which develops over about 10-15 years. While the Pap test detects abnormal cell changes, the new test detects the presence of an HPV infection, which causes 99.7% of cervical cancers. This improves early detection and saves more lives.

These are inclusive umbrella terms that describe people whose gender is different to what was presumed for them at birth. Trans people may position ‘being trans’ as a history or experience, rather than an identity, and consider their gender identity as simply being female, male or a non-binary identity. Some trans people connect strongly with their trans experience, whereas others do not. Processes of gender affirmation may or may not be part of a trans or gender diverse person’s life.