KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 – The ROSE Foundation in Malaysia has received a grant from TogetHER, an international movement, for a community project to encourage cervical cancer screenings.
TogetHER said in an announcement last December 16 that Malaysia’s ROSE Foundation was one of four recipients of its 2021-2022 Cervical Cancer Grants Programme to improve cervical cancer prevention services in low- or middle-income countries.
“ROSE aims to empower women through self-care and delivers self-sampling cervical screening to women, while prioritising the under-served and underprivileged communities,” said TogetHER.
Program ROSE has run HPV PCR and self-testing programmes in various communities to screen women for HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, including in the Klang Valley, Johor, and Kelantan.
The three components of Program ROSE are self-sampling, HPV DNA testing and the use of a mobile e-platform. Women are provided with a personal test kit which allows them to carry out the HPV test themselves. Their samples are then sent to the ROSE Laboratory for HPV testing.
Results of the HPV test are communicated to the women via mobile phone and those with a positive test result are linked to a government hospital for appropriate follow-up.
The unique feature of the programme is that this is not merely a self-screening test but with the use of digital technology, all women who test positive for HPV DNA are linked to care and receive appropriate management.
Unlike a conventional pap smear which involves a yearly pelvic examination, Program ROSE offers women the dignified choice of using a self-swab; a quick, convenient and effective approach to enable molecular tests to be undertaken, followed by prompt delivery of results.