Funding to support cervical cancer screening and treatment in the Pacific

UNSW has received a $25.9 million donation from the Swire Group that will support cervical cancer screening and treatment for over 130,000 women in Pacific countries.

The funding will enable UNSW Kirby Institute to support services in seven countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Rates of cervical cancer in the Pacific are among the highest in the world, according to the World Health Organization, with Pacific women up to 14 times more likely to die from cervical cancer than women in Australia.

“Cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death among women in the Pacific and is devastating to women, families and entire communities across our region. This generous investment will enable countries like Samoa to partner with the Kirby Institute to advance our vision of a world free of cervical cancer,” said Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, Prime Minister of Samoa.

Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, a common virus spread through sexual contact. Most women with HPV infection or early cervical disease do not experience symptoms, so early detection through screening is crucial.

“This landmark investment will enable us to work with countries across the Pacific over the next five years to advance our collective vision of a world free of cervical cancer and ultimately save thousands of lives across our region,” said Professor Andrew Vallely, who is co-leading the work at the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney with Project Manager Vanessa Price.

The Swire Group is headquartered in the United Kingdom.

“Through Swire Shipping we have been serving the Pacific Island nations for over 70 years. Tragically, in the Pacific, women are dying from a disease that is preventable, and this program targets its elimination,” said Sam Swire, Executive Director.

The Kirby Institute has worked with partners in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Australia since 2010 to co-design and evaluate strategies for cervical screening in PNG and other countries in the region. This new grant will build on the successes of the earlier Eliminating Cervical Cancer in the Western Pacific (ECCWP) program funded by the Australian Minderoo Foundation and complement the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) program funded by the Australian Government and recently expanded as part of the Quad Cancer Moonshot Initiative in September 2024. Collectively, these initiatives will support countries on their journey to implementing sustainable cervical cancer elimination strategies.

Improving access

Despite huge efforts over many years, barriers have prevented Pacific countries from establishing and sustaining population-based cervical screening and vaccination programs. Challenges include the diverse geography of these nations, which are among the most remote and isolated in the world. This project will use advancements in cervical screening so that women who present to clinics can self-collect their own specimens, with results available in an hour.

“This approach is a game changer for the Pacific. Previous approaches involved invasive pelvic examinations and results could take weeks. Now, with this donation from the Swire Group, we can work with partner countries to sustainably build this highly effective screening strategy into health policy and services, enabling access to cervical screening and treatment and saving women’s lives,” Price said.

Dr Paulus Ripa, who leads the ECCWP Program in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea, wants to see the end of suffering for women and their families.

“Close to 30,000 women have already benefited from the screening program here in Papua New Guinea, and now our neighbours across the Pacific will also have access to this life-saving service,” he said.

In the past decade, UNSW’s Kirby Institute has conducted research in partnership with the PNG Institute of Medical Research, national and provincial health authorities, medical societies and most importantly, women and their communities. This included the first field trials in the world to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness, safety, acceptability, scalability and cost-effectiveness of point-of-care HPV self-collection, testing and same-day treatment for cervical cancer prevention. This approach is now a key component of the WHO global elimination strategy.

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