Pilot Project on HPV Cervical Cancer Prevention via Self-Sampling in Bandung, Indonesia

Background and Objective: Cervical Cancer is the second highest cause of death in Indonesia. A lack of awareness, embarrassment, cultural sensitivities, and low accessibility to healthcare facilities primarily cause low screening rates of HPV amongst women. The pilot study’s objective is to enhance publicity and awareness of HPV amongst the women at West Bandung and to establish the end-to-end process on self-sampling HPV screening with the aim for scaling up to other regions and provinces in Indonesia. Materials and Methods: The primary HPV genotypes to be detected are HPV genotypes 16 and 18, in addition to other high-risk HPV genotypes. Self-Sampling Swab was used to collect specimens from the vaginal cell walls of female participants. Real-time PCR on DNA extraction from the specimen was conducted to detect the presence of any HPV 16 or 18 genotypes. The HPV screening results were qualitatively analyzed, while participant feedback on self-sampling kits was descriptively analyzed with a 99.5% significance level to assess acceptability. Results: Of the 335 women who participated in the pilot study, 4.2% (14 participants) were detected to be HPV positive. The 83.5% (280 out of 335 participants) provided feedback on the ease and comfort of use. 99.64% provided positive feedback. This indicated a 0.05 level of significance from the feedback from the participants. Conclusion: The pilot study, the first of its kind in Indonesia, demonstrated high acceptability and feasibility of HPV self-sampling, with 99.64% positive feedback. These findings support its potential to enhance HPV screening uptake nationwide.