Aotearoa New Zealand has embraced self-tests for cervical screening with a University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study proving the method's feasibility.
In 2023, the county's cervical screening programme changed to offer the option of a vaginal swab self-test or a clinician-taken cervical test.
The research, published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, set out to determine the practicality of the new programme.
More than 3100 people due for a cervical screening test participated in the study, with 95 per cent opting for a self-test. HPV was detected in 12.9 per cent of them, and, of those, 95 per cent had a follow-up test.
There was a high recruitment rate across all ethnicities, along with a high capture rate of people who were overdue for a screen.
Feedback from participants and health practitioners revealed the strong preference for a self-test was because of the importance of choice, convenience, ease and comfort it provided.
Peter Sykes
Lead author Associate Professor Peter Sykes, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, says Aotearoa is the first country in the world to embrace cervical screening with the self-test as the primary screening tool.
"Cervical screening is now better and easier and makes it more accessible to under-screened people. This research demonstrates the feasibility and outcome of this approach and how it may help screening inequity," he says.
He hopes the option of a self-test will encourage more people to be screened.
"Now is a great time to have one. It is also really important for people who have the HPV virus detected to have follow up tests, and not to be too worried as most people will not have a problem that needs treatment."
Alongside participation in the screening programme, Associate Professor Sykes also wants all young people to participate in the HPV vaccination programme.
"We are leading the world in this aspect of cervical screening. With appropriate resources committed to screening and vaccination, we could be one of the first countries in the world to effectively eliminate cervical cancer," he says.
Publication details
Peter Sykes, Carrie Innes, Rebecca Bell, Janine Nip, John McMenamin, Lynn McBain, Ben Hudson, Melanie Gibson, Sarah Te Whaiti, Alexandria Tino, Jonathan Williman, Andrew Miller, Beverley Lawton
BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
