From self-sample to treatment
Follow a woman's sample from collection to care. Every step happens on site, in a Wave or Loop clinic, using methods recommended by the WHO.
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1 · Screen
Self-sample
A nurse explains how to take the sample. Each woman then collects a vaginal swab herself, in private, with no speculum exam.
Many women are more willing to be screened when they can take the sample themselves. The WHO recommends self-sampling for HPV screening, and it lets a small team screen many women in a day.
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2 · Screen
HPV test
High-risk HPV causes about 99% of cervical cancers1, and the WHO recommends HPV testing as the primary screening method. The sample is tested on site.
In a Wave clinic, samples are tested together in batches of up to 90, with results the next day. In a Loop clinic, each sample is tested on its own, with a result in about an hour. About 8 in 10 women test negative2.
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3 · Triage
On-site Pap stain
Most HPV infections clear on their own, so a positive test shows a woman is at risk, not that she has a lesion. Triage finds the women who actually need treatment.
A nurse collects a cervical sample and prepares a slide. GyroStainer, our automated stainer, then applies a Pap stain consistently on site.
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4 · Triage
Remote review
The stained slide is scanned and uploaded automatically to our telecytology portal, where a remote pathologist from our network analyses it.
The clinic receives the result in under an hour, and the woman can receive immediate treatment.
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5 · Treat
Treatment on site
Women with precancerous lesions (CIN2 and CIN3) are treated straight away with thermal ablation, in a few minutes and usually without anaesthesia. More about thermal ablation
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6 · Refer
Referral when needed
Suspected cancers, and lesions that can't be treated with thermal ablation, are referred to a hospital for specialised care.
Triage
Why cytology, and not VIA or histology
An HPV test is very sensitive, so the triage step that follows has to be specific: it should pick out the women who really need treatment. Cytology looks at the cells themselves, like histology, but does not require a biopsy.
The trouble with VIA
Visual inspection with acetic acid is cheap and immediate, but it depends on the eye and experience of the examiner. Reported specificity ranges from 65% to 98%3, so in some settings many women are treated who don't need it.
What holds cytology back, and how we fix it
Cytology is consistently specific (86–100%3), but its accuracy depends on slide quality and on the reader, and it usually needs a city laboratory, with results in days or weeks. Our automated Pap stainer makes the staining consistent on site, and the telecytology portal brings an expert reader to every slide.
Treat
Thermal ablation
What it is
A portable device heats a metal probe to about 100 °C. The probe is applied to the abnormal area of the cervix for 20 to 40 seconds at a time, which destroys the precancerous cells4. The tissue then heals on its own over the following weeks.
Between women, the probe is cleaned and disinfected by boiling.
Why we use it
The WHO recommends thermal ablation to treat cervical precancer. The device is small and battery-powered, the procedure takes minutes and usually needs no anaesthesia, and trained nurses or doctors can perform it. That means women can be treated on site, in the same programme that screened them.
It suits lesions that are fully visible and not too large.
References
- Walboomers J.M. et al., Human papillomavirus is a necessary cause of invasive cervical cancer worldwide, J Pathol, 1999;189(1):12–19.
- Vassilakos P. et al., A cross-sectional study exploring triage of HPV-positive women by visual assessment, manual and computer-interpreted cytology, and HPV-16/18-45 genotyping in Cameroon, Int J Gynecol Cancer, 2021;31(6):808–816. 18.6% of 1,582 self-sampled women tested HPV-positive. PubMed
- Jonnalagedda-Cattin M., Artificial intelligence-driven clinical decision support system for cervical cancer detection in low- and middle-income settings, EPFL thesis 11235, 2025, table 2.2, comparison of screening methods based on published meta-analyses.
- World Health Organization, WHO guidelines for the use of thermal ablation for cervical pre-cancer lesions, 2019. WHO