Pacific Against Cervical Cancer (PACe)

The Pacific Against Cervical Cancer (PACe) Program’s overall goal is to decrease the morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer in the US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI). The primary objective is to increase the capacity of healthcare workers to prevent and control cervical cancer via enhanced evidence-based public health screening practices in Guam and Yap State (Federated States of Micronesia). This current project is focusing on clinician and self-collection primary HPV DNA testing targeting un/under-screened women aged 30-64. The program is guided by the principles of community-based participatory engagement, implementation science, and capacity building.

The PACe project is an evaluation project.

There are 3 main strategies to achieve the primary objective:

1. Develop and implement a governance, organizational, and administrative structure that is responsive to the evolving health and healthcare environment at the respective project sites, the funding source requirements, and the engagement requirements of a multi-country / multi-institutional / multi-agency partnership
2. Enhance the capacity to deliver country-specific, sustainable, and evidence-based interventions to enhance cervical cancer prevention and control through integrated cervical cancer screening programs
   1. Develop and utilize participatory community-based engagement processes and an implementation science framework for project development at all sites
   2. Harmonize the country-specific cervical cancer screening and treatment data to enhance, evaluate, and deliver effective cervical cancer screening and treatment programs
   3. Identify, define, and develop applicable evidence-based cervical cancer screening, protocols, and treatment technologies for project development at all sites
   4. Utilize statistical and medical modeling science to forecast the country-specific impact, present and future, of cervical cancer screening and prevention strategies as they relate to intervention costs, morbidity / mortality outcomes, and human resource needs
3. Using the experience, lessons learned, and outcomes of the PACe project in Yap, FSM and Guam as a foundation, cervical cancer prevention and screening strategies throughout the USAPI and will be offered, staged, developed, and implemented in other USAPI jurisdictions.

This project is funded through the Pacific Island Health Officers Association and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding. The project is a collaboration with the:

• Cancer Council NSW (cost-effectiveness/modeling lead)
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Guam Alternative Lifestyle Association
• Guam Community Advisory Board
• Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services
• Dr. Rick Lu (medical lead)
• Pacific Island Health Officers Association
• University of Alabama at Birmingham (community engagement and education lead)
• University of Hawai’i John A. Burns School of Medicine Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
• Megan Wysong (data evaluator)
• Yap State Community Advisory Board
• Yap State Department of Health Services