A NZ$5.1 million (US$3 million) grant from New Zealand’s Matariki Fund will bankroll a new Pacific-led programme to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer across the region, organisers announced on Thursday. The initiative, coordinated by Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa – Centre for Pacific and Global Health at the University of Auckland, aims to rapidly expand HPV vaccination and make cervical self-testing widely available while strengthening diagnostics and treatment pathways.
The funding backs a coordinated package of interventions designed to meet the World Health Organization’s “90–70–90” targets by 2030: vaccinating 90 percent of girls against HPV, screening 70 percent of eligible women through methods such as self-testing, and ensuring 90 percent of women with pre-cancer or invasive cancer receive treatment. The programme’s initial phase will focus on the Cook Islands and Niue before being scaled up across other Pacific island countries and territories.
Cervical cancer remains a major public health problem in the Pacific. The organisers note incidence rates in parts of the region are as much as nine times higher than in Australasia, and services for vaccination, screening and timely treatment are unevenly available. The new investment is intended to expand access to both new and locally led existing prevention initiatives, facilitate timely diagnostics and treatment, and strengthen digital and health system infrastructure through a coalition of Pacific women leaders.
Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga, co-director of Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, called the grant “a gamechanger for regional collaboration,” saying the funding allows Pacific countries “to work together, sharing expertise, strengthening systems, and supporting women leaders, to achieve elimination.” Professor Judith McCool, head of the School of Population Health and co-director of Te Poutoko Ora a Kiwa, said the grant enables sustainable, system-level change beyond isolated projects by strengthening leadership and governance across the region.
Dame Jacinda Ardern, who administers the Matariki Fund, highlighted the unequal burden of cervical cancer on Pacific women and framed the funding as support for local leadership. “Pacific women are disproportionately affected by a disease that can be eliminated. There is such excellent leadership within the region – this funding is simply about supporting them to save lives with solutions that should be available to everyone,” she said.
The programme will work alongside existing regional efforts, including Australia’s EPICC programme (funded by the Australian Government and the Minderoo Foundation) and the Polynesian Health Corridors initiative managed by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health and funded by MFAT. Local partners confirmed to be involved include Te Marae Ora (Cook Islands) and the Niue Department of Health. Officials say the combined approach aims to reduce duplication, scale effective interventions, and build resilient regional health systems to sustain progress toward elimination.
By prioritising both increased HPV vaccination coverage and expanded access to self-testing for cervical screening — with explicit numeric coverage targets — the initiative sets measurable milestones for the coming years. With the immediate implementation planned in smaller Pacific jurisdictions, organisers are positioning the first phase as a testbed to refine models that can be rolled out more broadly across the Pacific.
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