A group of researchers at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology has clinched a Kshs. 2,954,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute of Kenya (NCI-K). The award is for a project, titled ‘Co-Designing a Culturally Acceptable Strategy to Optimize Uptake of HPV Self-Sample Collection to Increase Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment for Women in Kenya (SELHP)’.

Dr. Gregory Sakwa

Prof. Peter Bukhala

The Principal Investigator (PI) is Dr. Gregory Sakwa of the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedical Sciences (SONMAPS), while the Co-PIs are MMUST’s Prof. Peter Bukhala and Kenya Medical Research Institute's (KEMRI) Dr. Zachary Kwena. The other member of the group is Ms. Hellen Odeny, a Master’s student.

The specific objectives of the project are;

1.             To explore potential barriers and facilitators to optimizing self-sample collection for HPV testing
2.             Using data from objective (i), co-design a culturally acceptable strategy to enhance uptake of self-sample collection for HPV testing to increase Cervical Cancer Screening (CCS) and treatment follow-up for women

The study setting is Kakamega County due to its high prevalence of risk factors among women, and low CC screening rate. Congratulations to the team for securing the competitive grant!

By Dr. Lydia Anyonje