NHS England has announced a significant new initiative to boost cervical cancer screening rates by offering at-home Human Papillomavirus (HPV) tests for the first time in England. Available from January, these innovative DIY test kits are specifically designed to reach the more than five million women who are currently not up to date with their regular cervical screenings, which are typically offered to women aged 25 to 64 every few years.

The introduction of these self-sampling kits, which involve a long cotton-wool bud for swabbing the vaginal lining, directly addresses