Western Pacific
The Minderoo Foundation, together with NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Cervical Cancer Control (C4), has undertaken a first-of-its-kind humanitarian and research effort to eliminate cervical cancer in the Western Pacific.
HPV in context in this region
The project aligns with the WHO Strategy to eliminate cervical cancer worldwide by the end of the century, through a ‘triple-intervention’ approach, which sets out three simple targets to place all countries on the path toward elimination by 2030: Vaccination, Screening, Treatment.
Within C4, this initiative has been led by Professor Karen Canfell (Daffodil Centre), Professor Marion Saville (ACPCC), Professor Andrew Vallely (Kirby Institute, UNSW and PNG Institute of Medical Research, Goroka) and Professor Deborah Bateson (Daffodil Centre).
Minderoo and C4 in Action
This project will put the WHO eliminate cervical cancer concept into practice, leading the world to show how the triple intervention strategy of HPV vaccination, HPV-based screening and cancer treatment can be introduced into a priority region. It will create a sustainable framework for attracting additional partners and will act as a catalyst for cervical cancer elimination globally.
- The Australian research arm will conduct modelling and analysis to inform the most efficient and effective ways to implement and then expand the initiative.
- The Eliminate Cervical Cancer in the Western Pacific project will be core to a range of active and emerging regional and local partnerships in the Western Pacific region, which will be essential to achieving cervical cancer elimination worldwide.
- A program has been established in PNG and Vanuatu to provide effective and equitable HPV-based cervical screening programs for women aged 30-54 years.
CanSCREEN in PNG and Vanuatu
ACPCC’s canSCREEN® e-health platform has been optimised for PNG local health care teams, to record and track women’s results and follow-up care in remote regions. The canSCREEN® registry went live in PNG on 28 May 2022. The solution includes a mobile application for capturing information whilst offline, and a desktop application integrating to the GeneXpert HPV on-demand PCR test that provides actionable HPV results in approximately one hour. PNG has successfully started uploading patient data and test results into their canSCREEN® registry in the Mt Hagen Well Women’s Clinic. This was the first instance of canSCREEN® supporting the ‘screen and treat’ model for HPV screening. The PNG team have now screened several hundred patients, with testing continuing to increase as the program expands.
ACPCC is the final stages of rolling out canSCREEN® to Vanuatu, working with our project partners to facilitate implementation.
