TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia to push DNA screening for cervical cancer nationwide
The DNA-based testing will be combined with the acetate acid (IVA) screening that is currently widely used across the nation in order to increase the accuracy of cervical cancer screening for women.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Illustraton of cervical cancer screening. (Shutterstock/Jo Panuwat D)
T
he government is planning to implement DNA-based testing as the primary cervical cancer screening method for women between 30 and 69 years old as a measure to achieve its target to eliminate the disease by 2030.
Until now, most health facilities primarily use acetate acid (IVA) to detect human papillomavirus (HPV) and diagnose cervical cancer. The new plan would combine the IVA and DNA testing, which is deemed more accurate and effective in detecting and preventing the disease.
“We will begin to roll out HPV DNA co-testing with IVA nationwide starting in 2025,” the Health Ministry’s noncommunicable diseases prevention and control director Siti Nadia Tarmizi said in a press briefing in Jakarta on Friday.
Following a successful trial in Greater Jakarta, the ministry expanded the HPV DNA co-testing with IVA to 25 regencies and cities across 16 provinces in 2024. Around 2.5 percent of people screened with the co-testing in the regions were detected as having HPV infections.
“The risk of HPV infections among women between 30 and 69 years old is notably high,” Siti said, adding the DNA-based screening will be included in President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free birthday checkups.
The press briefing on Friday was held ahead of the 2nd Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum hosted by Indonesia in Bali from Tuesday to Thursday. The meeting is a follow-up to the first forum held in Cartagena, Colombia, in March 2024 that produced key commitments to combat cervical cancer.
Read also: Vaccination, awareness for a cervical cancer-free future
