January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, and one of the recommended ways for women to prevent a diagnosis is to get screened regularly.

American Cancer Society Senior Community Development Manager Kim Durst says there are two screening tests to help prevent cervical cancer or find it early, “Before cervical cancer was so hard to detect and now it is so highly preventable and treatable and we just encourage women to go in annually starting at the age of 21 to have these annual exams and have their pap test done which can detect precancerous cells. Because if treated early, obviously we can prevent it getting to the point where it’s not treatable anymore.”

Durst says all women should begin getting a pap smear at the age of 21, and should continue every three years. Women ages 30-65 should have both a pap test and a human papillomavirus test every five years. The HPV test finds HPV infections that can lead to cell changes and cancer. Durst adds another way of preventing cervical cancer is getting the HPV vaccine.