Karen Leung Memorial Foundation USA

COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in worldwide disruptions of health care in general including cervical cancer screening services. This disruption may jeopardies WHO’s global strategy to expedite the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health concern. WHO elimination strategy focus on the three elements, raising awareness, prevention and providing timely treatment, all of which build the core areas of concern for the Karen Leung Foundation. Screening and prompt treatment of women diagnosed with cervical cancer are two out of the three targets of this initiative which have severely suffered across the past 24 month. Even with the resumption of screening activity after the COVID-19 outbreaks became manageable, many women are still reluctant to get screened due to fears of being exposed to COVID on the way to, or at the healthcare center, next to other reasons for non-attendance, including a lack of time, inconvenience, embarrassment, pain, discomfort, cultural objections and general lack of awareness. Despite the launch of population-based cervical screening in 2004 by the Hong Kong Department of Health, the incidence rate of cervical cancer has remained relatively static following an initial decline observed immediately after the programme’s initiation. Thus Cervical cancer in Hong Kong still ranks he eighth most common cancer in women as well as also takes the eighth place in overall cancer mortality in 2019. Furthermore, a recent Health Behaviour Survey conducted in Hong Kong in 2018/19 found that only 45.8% of women aged 25–64 had ever had a cervical smear test without suspecting symptoms of cervical cancer prior to the test, which makes the population of women in Hong Kong poorly screened in comparison to the 70–80% achieved in other developed countries. Thus we at the Karen Leung Foundation have been looking into novel ideas on how one could drive up screening rates and in turn make suggestions on how the screening protocol may be altered by the Hong Kong government. Although not recommended by the Department of Health yet, HPV self-sampling is a new method widely catching on globally which can mitigate many of the above mentioned reasons why women don’t get screened. Across the 2019-2021 the Foundation has funneled over 550 women into Project TEAL 3 to further assess, if self-sampling would offer an acceptable screening options versus the typically technician collected samples. Another even more compelling offering out of California might be the Qpad, a modified menstrual pad which uses self-collected menstrual blood as a potential screening alternative. Both of these new options offer avenues for further research and the Foundation together with the University of Hong Kong and other project partners is planning for Project Teal 4 – Teal 4 cover over 1000 women in low income areas in Hong Kong and is planned for spring 2023 – All funds collected today will be in support of this final TEAL study.