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Performance of vaginal self-sampling for human papillomavirus testing among women living with HIV in Botswana

In Botswana, where human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence remains high, cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Multiple organizations recommend high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) testing as a screening tool; however, high coverage may not be feasible with provider-collected samples. We conducted the first assessment of self- versus provider-collected samples for hr-HPV testing in HIV-positive women in Botswana and report prevalence of hr-HPV and histological outcomes. We recruited HIV-positive women ≥25 years attending an HIV clinic in Gaborone. Self- and provider-collected samples from participants were tested for hr-HPV using Cepheid GeneXpert. Women testing positive for any hr-HPV returned for colposcopy. We used unweighted κ statistics to determine hr-HPV agreement. We report that 31 (30%) of 103 women tested positive for any hr-HPV. The most common genotypes were HPV 31/33/35/52/58. Overall agreement between self- and provider-collected samples for any hr-HPV was 92% with a κ of 0.80. Ten of the 30 hr-HPV-positive women attending colposcopy had CIN2+ (33%). In conclusion, in this HIV-positive population, there was excellent agreement between self and provider samples, and self-sampling may play an important role in screening programs in high HIV burden settings with limited resources like Botswana.