17th May 2023: Executive Director of the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC), Prof Marion Saville, said today at the launch of its newest diagnostics capability that: “Victoria is now even better equipped to support the elimination of cervical cancer not only within Victoria but also across Australia and in other countries throughout Southeast Asia and the Pacific.”
The Victorian Minister for Health – the Hon Mary-Anne Thomas – said today that “this machine is the first of its kind in Australia and will ensure more Victorian women are screened for cervical cancer”, at the launch of the new BD COR machine at the ACPCC.
Prof Saville said further that “the partnership between the ACPCC and the Victorian Government over five decades has resulted in Victorian women having one of the lowest mortality rates from cervical cancer in the world. ACPCC houses the Australian HPV Reference Laboratory which is a world class facility providing support services to laboratories both within Australia and to laboratories in the wider Indo-pacific region”.
The ACPCC has been sharing our laboratory expertise and our understanding of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) with countries in our region including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Zealand, and Malaysia for the last five years.
Prof Saville said that “there are several pieces of the puzzle that need to come together in a country in order to eliminate cervical cancer, and through our experience and partnerships in Australia, we’ve been able to support other countries to put this puzzle together.”
“To eliminate cervical cancer and prevent avoidable deaths, you need a national HPV vaccination program for adolescent girls, you need people to have access to screening and treatment, and you need a digital screening registry to ensure that people don’t slip through the cracks, and to understand the performance of your screening program.”
“With the support of the Victorian Government we now have a new screening capacity through the BD COR technology which gives us unparalleled capabilities to provide timely results for women who get screened, and we also have a highly efficient digital screening registry which we’ve rolled out in countries from PNG to Malaysia, meaning that the crucial follow-up is not forgotten”.
Image: the Hon Mary-Anne Thomas, Prof Marion Saville, Anelo Cournut, and Assoc Prof David Hawkes
