BD, global medical technology company has partnered with digital health company, Camtech Health, to increase access to cervical cancer screening in Singapore. This is the country’s first program to provide women with at-home self-collection testing kits.
 
Camtech Health HPV test and the BD Onclartity HPV Assay are combined to detect 14 high-risk HPV strains. According to BD, in Singapore, less than half of eligible women are currently being tested. 
 
For women in Singapore, lack of time, embarrassment, fear and inconvenience are among the key barriers to screening, _i and before now, Singapore only offered HPV testing via hospital or clinic settings with a speculum examination and a clinician collection,” stated Dr. Jeff Andrews, VP of Global Medical Affairs at BD. “Cervical cancer is preventable, precancer is curable, and programs like this help to support the national goal of cervical cancer elimination. Not only does self-collection afford women greater access to HPV testing by enabling them to collect a sample in privacy at a time and place of their choosing, but they can also feel confident that the reliability of self-collected samples is comparable to those collected by a clinician _ii.” 
 
This at-home collection test aims to help address the public health challenge of reaching women who do not have access to routine cervical cancer screenings.  This expands on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer. 
 
Research shows that cervical cancer ranks as the 10^th most frequent cancer among women in Singapore _v. Screening in Singapore in women aged 25-74 decreased by 17% between 2007 and 2019; from 58% to 48% _vi. 
 
WHO’s strategy was launched in 2020 and recognized the potential to eliminate cervical cancer. The strategy’s targets are to achieve HPV vaccination coverage greater than 90%, screening coverage greater than 90%, and access to treatment greater than 90% by 2030.
 
“Making at-home self-collection available is the first step to empowering health and well-being, but making the test easy to use is just as important,” said Camtech Health Chairman, Kuok Meng-Han. “The Camtech Health HPV test with the Camtech Health app is completed in simple steps and then sent via postage-paid packaging provided in the kit. The sample is analyzed using the BD Onclarity HPV assay, and the BD Viper LT fully automated integrated molecular testing system, and physician-reviewed results are provided on the app with a virtual consultation to discuss any abnormalities.”
 
BD Onclarity is the only FDA-approved assay that tests for extended sets of individual HPV types including the three high-risk cervical cancer-causing types: HPV52 and HPV33/58. It also received the first CE Mark for HPV screening from at-home self-collected vaginal samples. 
 
Dr. Ida Ismail-Pratt, Advisor of the Alliance for Active Action against HPV (A4HPV), a youth-led non-profit committed to increasing awareness about HPV and its related cancers said, “Providing women the ability to self-collect in the convenience of their own home is critical to improving their access to cervical cancer screening, and empowering women to take charge of their own health, especially among underserved communities in Singapore who might be deterred from seeking healthcare. With less than 50% of women in Singapore regularly screening for cervical cancer, it is heartening that this self-collection option is finally available in Singapore for the first time. We hope that this additional option will help Singapore to reach the WHO’s cervical cancer screening goal of 70% by 2030, and truly leaving no one behind.”
 
 
References:
i Chua B, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 26;18(9):4586.
 
ii Arbyn, M. et al. (2018) Detecting cervical precancer and reaching underscreened women by using HPV testing on self samples: updated meta-analyses. Bmj 363, k4823; Cadman, L. et al. (2021) A randomised comparison of different vaginal self-sampling devices and urine for human papillomavirus testing – Predictors 5.1. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev Published Online First on January 29, 2021; DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-20-1226; Rohner, E. et al. (2020) Test Accuracy of Human Papillomavirus in Urine for Detection of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia. J Clin Microbiol 58 (3)
 
^v https://www.nrdo.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider3/default-document-library/scr-ar-2021-web-report.pdf?sfvrsn=591fc02c_0
 
^vi National Population Health Survey 2019, ISBN 978-981-14-5641-1. Epidemiology & Disease Control Division and Policy, Research & Surveillance Group, Ministry of Health and Health Promotion Board, Singapore.