Societal implications
Challenge
Many individual and systemic barriers prevent eligible women from being screened for cervical cancer (i.e. distance, cost, time investment, socio-cultural beliefs, organisation of healthcare). In order to address these barriers, country-specific screening strategies for socially vulnerable hard-to-reach women are needed.
Solution
The ELEVATE project will pilot the HPV testing tool in four countries (Belgium, Brazil, Ecuador and Portugal) using a community-based participatory approach to refine the design and define the recruitment, data collection, analysis, and interpretation methods. All participants will receive education and counselling about sexual health and cervical cancer. The pilot study will test the user take-up and acceptability of the HPV self-sampling method and HPV testing device. It will also determine the cost-effectiveness of our screening intervention compared to standard care.