In Zambia, young women will collect their own genital and oral swabs at home to screen for a neglected parasitic disease, genital schistosomiasis, alongside HIV, HPV, and other sexually transmitted infections. This matters because female genital schistosomiasis affects an estimated 40 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, yet most are unaware they have it. The disease causes infertility, ectopic pregnancies, and chronic pain, and small studies link it to increased HIV and cervical cancer risk. Current diagnosis relies on expensive equipment and expertise rarely available where the disease is common. Self-sampling has already shown acceptable sensitivity for detecting the parasite’s DNA from women’s genital tracts, offering a scalable alternative. If this research succeeds, a single home visit could replace multiple clinic appointments for infection screening. The study will validate self-sampling in a large cohort, follow women for three years to track infection progression and treatment response, and perform a cost-effectiveness analysis. The goal is to find economically feasible ways to scale up community-based programmes that integrate detection and care for these infections across sub-Saharan Africa, potentially transforming sexual and reproductive health services for women of reproductive age.
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The 'BILHIV in YourSELF' (pronounced; believe in YourSelf) study, is a novel one-stop approach for improving young women's sexual and reproductive health through community-based infection screening in Zambia, a country known to have high prevalence of HIV and cervical cancer. This novel strategy aims to integrate, in a single home visit and for the first time, self-sampling (genital and oral swabs) for the detection of multiple infections with serious consequences for female's sexual and reproductive health. The BILHIV in YourSELF study mainly focuses on the detection of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), a chronic and disabling parasitic gynaecological disease that gets often confused with sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) due to their similarities in clinical presentations such as infertility, ectopic pregnancies, vaginal discharge and pain with coitus. An estimated 40 million women suffer from FGS in sub-Saharan Africa, and most of them are unaware of harbouring the disease. This is partly because detection of FGS is challenging, as it relies on expensive equipment and expertise that are seldom available in sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is common. Small studies have documented an increased risk of acquiring HIV and cervical cancer in women with FGS, underlying the importance of approaching diagnosis of all genital infections in a comprehensive and holistic manner closer to the user. Genital self-sampling has been successfully implemented for the detection of different genital infections, including the work pioneered by the lead applicant in Zambia, validating genital self-swabs for the diagnosis of FGS. Results revealed acceptable sensitivity of genital swabs for the DNA detection of the parasite from women's genital tract, potentially offering, for the first time, a scalable diagnostic approach for a parasitic disease that has been unacceptably neglected. Also, self-sampling strategies have been used and validated for the detection of human papillomavirus (HPV), the causal agent for cervical cancer, allowing for possible community-based screening. All of these infections lead to serious downstream consequences for the sexual and reproductive health of women in SSA. As a consequence, multi-pathogen self-sampling and testing constitutes an unmissable opportunity to offer potentially life-changing health services closer to the users. An integrated wider approach for genital infection detection can also be a cost-effective strategy. The BILHIV in YourSELF study has as a holistic approach to FGS detection in the community within the wider scope of female sexual and reproductive health surveillance and linkage to care in Zambia. It will aim to validate genital self-sampling strategies in a large cohort of women in Zambia and follow them up for three years. At follow up, we will measure clinical progression or resolution of infection and lesions in addition to adherence and response to treatment. A thorough cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed aiming to find economically feasible ways to scale-up community based programmes that will integrate detection and care of FGS, HIV, cervical cancer and other STIs for women of reproductive age in SSA.
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