This debate presents a timely opportunity to discuss the anxiety caused by the recent announcement of changes to cervical screening by Public Health Wales and explore it within its wider context. I appreciate that Public Health Wales has acknowledged that the announcement should have been dealt with better, and that Cancer Research UK has said that, whilst the announcement made the headlines, the story had a lot more to it than meets the eye. The new programme, in fact, provides more opportunities to spot symptoms in people who are at a greater risk of developing cervical cancer.

This led me to question why a decision made by Public Health Wales, backed by the evidence of scientists and researchers, had caused so much fear and anger in our communities. And I think the social media comments that I had from women were very honest and revealing. Sarah told me, 'It's such a shame that none of this was explained. Women's health is really struggling more than ever. I have had difficulty in even getting birth control. This is now another thing to make women feel anxious about their health.' It reinforced to me that we cannot shy away from the wider context of health inequalities that are deep-rooted within our systems.

And it is my belief that we cannot begin to discuss health inequalities without addressing the fact that medicine and research have predominantly been explored and developed through the vision of white men. We know this from both our history and everyday experiences, from sexual health and birth control to certain cancers and diseases. The politics of agency to address healthcare has historically been through the decision making and priorities of men. Women have told me that it is no wonder then that a decision such as that on cervical screening is met with concerns, when historically what we have known is that those without a cervix have made the decision for those whose lives were at stake. Although this is starting to change, I think extra effort must always be made to engage and listen to women. 

In my brief time as MS for Bridgend and Porthcawl, I have spoken to constituents about their experiences of the barriers faced by people seeking diagnosis and treatment for diseases such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, or the fact that menopause remains an under-invested area of research for the ongoing experiences of people facing the effects and symptoms, or the horrifying statistics identifying that people from ethnic minority communities are more likely to die from childbirth than white people in the UK. We have so much to do to unpick the systemic inequalities, inequality that has seen women, ethnic minority communities and queer and trans folk in the background, rather than leading on the research that affects their own bodies and lives, which is why I support the amendment today that acknowledges the causes of health inequality are multifaceted and part of a wider context of structural inequality.

I know that our health Minister has already been doing a lot of work to address this, and I'd welcome hearing more about this work today. I also acknowledge that the First Minister did address the cervical cancer screening changes yesterday, and that we will be having a debate on it next week, but I do feel that we need to grab every opportunity to address this, because there are a lot of women out there who have been left very scared.