Grant: Eliminating Cervical Cancer in Canada

Despite being almost entirely preventable, the World Health Organization estimates that one million women globally currently have cervical cancer. Although Canada is poised to be one of the first countries to eliminate cervical cancer (CC), in 2019, an estimated 1,350 Canadian women will be diagnosed and every day, a woman in Canada will die from this preventable cancer. CC is caused by long-term infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), and is largely preventable through effective vaccination and screening. Our research team will advance research on HPV vaccine and screening methods to reach the goal of eliminating CC in Canada. We aim to achieve this by focusing on improving uptake and delivery of HPV vaccination as well as cervical cancer screening in the general public including under-screened and under-served populations. Through five 'research projects', our team of researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of current HPV vaccine schedules and strategies for improving uptake of the vaccine in school based programs. Using the BC Cervix Screening Program and experience from our HPV FOCAL study, we will comprehensively examine the impact of population level recruitment strategies using self-collection and digital infrastructure to increase attendance at care and CC screening coverage. This evaluation will focus on examining how a population level strategy impacts CC screening coverage in under-screened women, particularly communities that face access inequities. In partnership with Indigenous communities, employing a strengths-based approach, we will examine ways to achieve equity in access to screening in First Nations and Métis communities adhering to OCAP and OCAS principles. We will strengthen and broaden our existing collaborative networks to ensure knowledge translation to other jurisdictions across Canada with the ultimate aim of will accelerate Canada's efforts to becoming the first country, globally, to eliminate of CC.