HOPE - Human Papillomavirus Screening to Improve Women's Life

Cervical cancer is a serious public health problem and the leading cause of cancer deaths in Peruvian women. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been identified as the cause of cervical cancer. More specifically, HPV types 16 and 18 are responsible for about 70% of these cancers. There is an effective vaccine against those two types, but vaccination is not universally used and vaccinated women will still need screening for lesions caused by other HPV types. The Peruvian government has committed to start vaccination in young women; screening is performed using cytology (the study of cells). However, these screening programs are complex to implement properly, use a method (PAP) with limited sensitivity and low reproducibility and have not reduced cervical cancer incidence in developing countries. There are several highly sensitive molecular tests for detection of cervical HPV infection that could replace cytology, but the majority of infections will not progress to cancer and will regress spontaneously. Therefore, there is a need to identify a second triage method that could detect HPV infected women at higher risk for cancer. These innovators propose to evaluate the performance and feasibility of the implementation of a new screening model for cervical cancer, including community women as promoters, the use of self-administered vaginal swabs for collection of samples, and new molecular HPV tests. This project is funded under a collaborative agreement between CONCYTEC (Peru’s National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation) and Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada) to support Stars in Global Health innovators based in Peru.