The distribution in pharmacies of self-samples for HPV screening was, once again, mentioned today during the first morning of “Health Cooperation” by the patients’ association “Imagyn”, which did not fail to challenge the General Directorate of Health.
Alongside vaccination of adolescents and young adults, intensification of HPV screening is essential in the fight against female and male cancers. The “Health Cooperation Morning” dedicated to inequalities in access to care among women – from prevention to treatment – was an opportunity to put the subject of self-debiting back on the agenda.
Indeed, the recommendations by the High Authority for Health (HAS) in 2019 regarding the sending of a self-sampling kit, as well as the national reference system for cervical cancer screening setting out the modalities for The vaginal self-sampling published in 2022 by the National Cancer Institute (INCa) has remained, to date, dead letters. “The subject is currently being investigated within the ministry, particularly from its legal and operational angles. It will also be necessary to organize the care pathway,” assures Patricia Minaya-Flores, deputy assistant director for “Population health and prevention of chronic diseases” at the Directorate General of Health (DGS). However, there is very little chance, according to her, that the situation will resolve in 2025. Because, the ball will then be in the court of the INCa (National Cancer Institute) but above all of health insurance, in particular regarding reimbursement. But not only that. Since the decree of January 16, 2024, health insurance organizations have been responsible for managing the implementation of invitations and reminders to participate in organized screenings for breast cancer, colorectal cancer and cervical cancer. of the uterus.
But while during the “Health Cooperation Morning”, the question of home distribution of these self-samples is raised, like the colorectal cancer screening campaign in its beginnings, the president of the Imagyn association, Coralie Marjolet, reacted energetically. The one which represents patients suffering from gynecological pelvic cancers and their relatives is campaigning for a remission of these self-collections in pharmacies. In proximity and especially in support from the health professional that is the pharmacy. “Sending the kit home is not possible. You have to imagine the dismay of a woman who receives results that she does not understand. Whereas if the self-collection is given in the pharmacy, the pharmacist will be there for the person,” she insists, referring to the pharmacy distribution of colorectal cancer screening kits which entered the conventional field on March 9, 2022.
In 2019, the HAS proposed to consider vaginal self-sampling (APV) with an HPV test as an alternative to cervico-uterine sampling (CUP) carried out by a health professional, in order to facilitate the screening of women who do not never or rarely screen. According to the HAS, sending a VPA kit directly to the home or making it available as part of prevention campaigns is likely to improve the participation rate. The INCa, for its part, recommended in May 2022 the sending of the home screening kit targeting women aged 30 to 65 who are not or rarely screened.
6,300 cancers (25% of which affect men) and 3,000 deaths are attributed to HPV each year. It is also 100% responsible for cervical cancer, from which a thousand women die each year.
