Women's Health Week 2026: do it anyway

Jean Hailes Women's Health Week runs from 7 to 11 September 2026. It has been going since 2012 and it is the largest event in the country dedicated to the health of women, girls and gender-diverse people.

This year's theme is do it anyway. It is aimed at the health thing you keep meaning to get to. The blood test slip in the glovebox. The screening letter under a pile on the bench. The symptom you have decided is probably nothing. The idea is not a grand health overhaul. It is one small step, taken now, rather than a better step taken at a better time that never quite arrives.

Three checks that are already free and already yours

Australia runs three national cancer screening programs. They are free, they run on a schedule and for two of them the invitation comes to you.

Cervical screening. A Cervical Screening Test every five years for people with a cervix aged 25 to 74. Between 2020 and 2024, 78% of the eligible population had one.

Breast screening. BreastScreen Australia offers a free mammogram every two years. It actively targets women aged 50 to 74 and is available to women aged 40 and over. Across 2023 and 2024 more than 1.9 million people were screened, which is 52% of the target group. Put the other way, close to half of the women it is meant for did not go.

Bowel screening. A free test kit is posted to people aged 50 to 74. People aged 45 to 49 can request their first one. Over 2023 and 2024, 44% of women invited returned it.

There is a detail in the bowel screening numbers worth pausing on. Participation was highest in inner regional Australia at 44%. It was lowest in very remote areas at 27%. Griffith sits in that inner regional band. When the test comes to the letterbox rather than requiring a trip, people here do it as reliably as anyone in the country.

The checks that never send a letter

Screening programs write to you. Most other things do not. Nobody posts a reminder about blood pressure, cholesterol, iron levels, thyroid function, bone health, contraception, perimenopause or how your mood has been for the last six months.

Those are the ones that quietly slide. They are also the ones where a single appointment can cover several at once because a lot of it comes down to a conversation and one blood test.

If you are not sure what applies at your age Jean Hailes runs a free online tool called Her Health Check that will tell you. It takes a few minutes and it gives you a list you can bring in with you.

Doing it anyway, this week

Pick one. Just one.

• Work out when your last cervical screening test was. If it was more than five years ago, book.

• If you are 40 or over, look up whether you are due for a mammogram.

• If a bowel screening kit arrived and is still in a drawer, do it this weekend.

• Write down the symptom you have been ignoring. Bring the piece of paper.

• Book the appointment you have been meaning to book since autumn.

Appointments at Your Health Griffith can be booked online through HotDoc, or call us on 02 6962 7661.

Jean Hailes publishes its women's health fact sheets in a wide range of community languages, which matters in a town like ours.

You do not have to feel organised about your health to look after it. That is rather the point of the theme.

Source

Jean Hailes for Women's Health, About Women's Health Week, dates and theme confirmed on the organiser's own page: https://www.jeanhailes.org.au/get-involved/womens-health-week/about-womens-health-week/

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2026), Cancer screening, Australia's health, released 18 June 2026: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/cancer-screening-and-treatment

Jean Hailes, Her Health Check: https://checks.jeanhailes.org.au/