Our project’s spawn point was an earnest belief in the urgency and relevance of the issue of the disparate, disproportionate effects of cervical cancer. Our proposed solution is a direct result of our commitment to the cause. The need of the hour in India, and other low- and middle- income countries, is national HPV screening with as immediate an effect as possible. For this to happen effectively, especially in rural areas, it’s vital to have a detection kit that can be easily used in low-resource settings

Rural Cancer Registries have proven to be effective at early detection of a greater number of cases. Registry Investigators engage in case finding in rural communities by organised, regular village visits, where all those with gynaecological symptoms such as heavy vaginal bleeding, discharge, and pelvic pains are encouraged to attend screening camps. In the last few decades, rural registries have been established in Ahmedabad, Devran, Sevagram, and Sindhudurg. We believe, with the usage of our kits, the costs and infrastructure required to set up several more of these registries and camps could become much more affordable.  Encouraging symptomatic women to attend screening camps will also be easier when they are assured about the new kit’s non-invasive nature. Several surveys and studies of women’s attitudes towards these tests in India, have repeatedly proven the necessity of pre-camp educational and awareness drives to motivate women. Using community-level women volunteers to engage the masses has also proven to be effective.

ASHA volunteers or Village Health Nurses offer indispensable services in such situations especially, as they can be easily familiarized with the working of our kit and safely carry out tests on a smaller scale in villages.  As we move from opportunistic screening to organized, systematic screening in the country, we must also account for the lack of Human Resource and an increased workload on the existing Human Resources. The usage of CRISPRLY in such settings comes with the benefit of not needing highly trained professionals to carry out the tests. Any group of educated volunteers could easily pick up the skills required to carry out error-free tests. This also helps handle the issue of existing overworked and under-motivated health care workers. We intend to collaborate with NGOs, and other healthcare organisations to hold targeted screening camps among women who are particularly more vulnerable to HPV at the earliest, like sex workers. We also aim to create a more inclusive space for trans men and other systemically disadvantaged non-binary genders to access our kits.

One important proposed implementation of our kit, is to try and make our kit usable at the convenience of the patients even in primary clinics. For this, we’ve developed the design for a microfluidics chip that automates all the first steps of our kit. This significantly reduces error, as the medical assistants would have to drop the solution containing the swab, and other reagents into the chip, which will then directly give out the reporter which can be poured for detection onto the strip. With this, we hope HPV testing becomes more accessible for at least the segment of the population and eventually normalize regular screening.  For further information on our designed chip device, please visit our Hardware page.