columnist
JUNE, 2018 | The HEALTH
17
OB - GYN
Pilot project introduces
self-sampling HPV DNA
test
G
LOBALLY, cervical cancer is the fourth
most common cancer in women and
the seventh overall with an estimated
528,000 new cases in 2012. There
were also 266,000 deaths worldwide
during this period, accounting for 7.5 per cent of
all female cancer deaths.
In Malaysia, cervical cancer
remains the top three most
common cancers among women
despite it being a largely prevent-
able cancer. It’s a cancer that affects
young people with three out of four
under 64 years old.
“Cervical screening saves lives.
However, only one in five Malay-
sian women who are eligible for
a cervical cancer screening will
ever have one,” said University of
Malaya (UM) Faculty of Medicine
Department of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology Professor Dr Woo
Yin Ling.
“This is despite regular aware-
ness campaigns that screening has
to be done for women between the
age of 30 to 65 and relatively easy
access to screening in healthcare
facilities. Some of the barriers
to Malaysia having a successful
screening programme include
fear, awkwardness, discomfort and
embarrassment experienced by
women and other human factors,”
she said.
Yin Ling who is also the lead
principal investigator who initi-
ated Project Rose which stands for
‘Removing Obstacles to Cervical
Cancer’ explained that the pilot
project is a cervical screening
programme that employs a human
centred approach in developing a
solution that responds to the needs
of Malaysian women.
It integrates the latest advances
in self-sampling, human papilloma-
virus or HPV DNA screening and
information and communication
technology (ICT).
“Women will be empowered
to take their own cervical screen-
ing sample, as an alternative to a
health-care professional taking
the cervical specimen via a pelvic
examination. They can now take
a self-sampling with a swab. All
they’ll have to do is to insert the
swab into the vagina and return the
swab to the healthcare professional
to run the HPV test. The results
can be available within an hour to
a few days.”
“The pilot project was tested
at a government clinic with a
healthcare professional taking
One of the many
self-sampling
HPV DNA test kit
available in stores.
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY
BY PROFESSOR DR
WOO YIN LING
down details of the patient. After
payment, the patient is registered
into the system, which follows
with a sms which instructs the
user to show the phone number to
the nurse as a verification or a tag
code.”
“This is followed with the user
doing the self-sampling and return-
ing it to the nurses. The test is done
and results given.”
Another unique aspect of
ROSE is that women will need
less cervical screening tests over
their lifetime. The current cervi-
cal screening programme requires
women to have up to 15 pap smears
in their lifetime whereas employ-
ing the new HPV DNA test can
reduce that down to five tests or
less per lifetime.
Yin Ling is hopeful that this
project will provide important
information on how to increase
the uptake of cervical screening in
Malaysia.
FACTS
I
n Malaysia, 2,145
new cervical cancer
cases are diagnosed
annually (estimations
for 2012).
2
nd leading cause
of female cancer in
women aged 15 to
44 years.
A
bout 621
cervical cancer
deaths occur
annually (estimations
for 2012).
5
th leading cause
of female cancer
deaths in women
aged 15 to 44 years.
(Left) Woo Yin Ling at the lab.