The Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Canberra last week, to formalise a partnership that will strengthen support to in-country partners and leaders to advance cervical cancer elimination in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The MoU was signed by Gavi Chief Executive Officer Dr Sania Nishtar and the Kirby Institute’s Director Scientia Professor Anthony Kelleher.
Rates of cervical cancer in PNG are among the highest in the world, according to the World Health Organization, with Papua New Guinean women up to 14 times more likely to die from cervical cancer than women in Australia.
The partnership between Gavi and the Kirby Institute will aid knowledge sharing, strategic planning, capacity building, advocacy and awareness, research and development and scaling and replication across all areas of HPV vaccination in Papua New Guinea. A specific focus will be to explore opportunities to integrate vaccination and screening services, particularly through mobile community outreach services that have to date provided same-day HPV screening and treatment to half of the 24,000 women screened in Western Highlands Province.
Professor Kelleher said the MoU acknowledges, “a unique opportunity to collaborate with Gavi, capitalising on the success of the cervical screening program, spearheaded by our partners in Western Highlands. Together we can work to facilitate the early introduction of HPV vaccination across Papua New Guinea.”
Dr Paulus Ripa, a paediatrician in PNG and Project Lead for the Eliminate Cervical Cancer in the Western Pacific Project (ECCWP), says there is an opportunity to build on the success and community acceptance of the cervical screening program in Western Highlands Province through the integration of HPV vaccination
“Strategies that advance integration will promote equity of access, in particular for girls not attending school, underlining the Western Highlands Provincial Health Authority’s commitment to leave no girl or woman behind as cervical cancer elimination progresses," he said.
The Kirby Institute has worked with partners in PNG and Australia since 2010 to co-design and evaluate strategies for cervical screening in PNG and other countries in the region. The work in Papua New Guinea is deeply collaborative and involves partnerships with in-country leaders, health workers and communities. An MoU was also signed between Gavi and key Kirby Institute partners in PNG and the region, the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC). Both MoUs build on work being undertaken by the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) program, which also includes Australian partners, the University of Sydney, Australian Centre for Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC), Family Planning Australia and the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS).
In 2022, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance revitalised its HPV vaccination programme, dedicating additional targeted resources to enhance access and boost coverage of the vaccine in lower-income countries. Since then, the Alliance has made major strides helping to vaccinate 3.4 million girls across the region in 2023 alone. Between 2026-2030, Gavi will step up its efforts and will seek to protect over 120 million girls across the world, saving 1.5 million lives. To realise this ambition, donor funding will be critical.