Vaccination against HPV and routine screening are the primary methods for cervical cancer prevention, and the convenience of at-home HPV tests may increase screening and lower cervical cancer prevalence in the U.S.

“There’s always this weird stigma with cervical cancer because of its association with HPV, an incredibly common virus, and it’s really important for us to make sure that we minimize the stigma,” Mark H. Einstein, MD, MS, professor and chair in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive health at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, told Healio. “Nobody wants cancer, and nobody wants cervical cancer, so it is our goal and our job to make sure that we encourage conversations about HPV and about HPV prevention. This is a ubiquitous virus, but very few people that have this virus will get a clinically relevant disease like a precancer or cancer.”