A commitment of $13.1 million from the Minderoo Foundation to tackle cervical cancer will enable the University of Sydney and its partners to expand the Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) program from 2025, building on the Australian Government’s $22 million investment in this landmark initiative. 

While Australia is on track to eliminate cervical cancer, it remains a leading cause of death for women in many neighbouring countries. To address this, EPICC brings together leaders in Australian cancer research and implementation with global and local partners and Ministries of Health across the Indo-Pacific region,  supporting countries to develop and implement multi-step national plans for cervical cancer elimination while also driving strategic regional initiatives.  
  
The EPICC consortium is led by the University of Sydney and includes the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC), the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney, Family Planning Australia, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), and Unitaid. 

Minderoo’s latest investment will advance cervical cancer elimination across the region, building on the early success of the Minderoo Foundation-supported Eliminate Cervical Cancer in the Western Pacific (ECCWP) program in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea’s Western Highlands. The contribution will enable EPICC to support health authorities in countries across the region to develop sustainable cancer elimination strategies, complemented by tailored, on-the-ground support to embed and achieve the World Health Organization’s 90-70-90 elimination targets. 

EPICC will support countries towards achieving the elimination targets, which are: 

• 90 percent of girls fully vaccinated with human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine by age 15; 
  
• 70 percent of eligible women screened using a high-performance molecular HPV test at least twice in their lifetime – by age 35 and again by the age of 45, and; 
• 90 percent of women with pre-cancer or invasive cervical cancer receiving treatment. 

Already: 

• Through EPICC and earlier foundational programs (ECCWP and Program ROSE in Malaysia), more than 100,000 women have been screened with HPV tests; 
  
• Over 100 healthcare workers, including nurses, midwives and doctors, have participated in EPICC-supported training; 
• Digital health registry canSCREEN has been configured and deployed in eight EPICC-participating countries, enabling patient follow up and performance monitoring and evaluation across the continuum of care.  

“We’re incredibly grateful for Minderoo’s deep generosity, which builds on their initial $8.6 million investment in our work, and will enable us to deepen and continue our efforts in and for the region,” said Professor Karen Canfell, Lead of the EPICC Program and the Cancer Elimination Collaboration (CEC) in the Faculty of Medicine and Health.  

“This funding strengthens our partnerships with health ministries across the region. Eliminating cervical cancer is only possible through deep, long-term collaboration, and Minderoo’s commitment ensures we can continue supporting countries to co-design and help implement solutions that work for their communities, while also strengthening coordinated regional efforts,” said Professor Canfell  AC, who is a world-recognised cancer epidemiologist with expertise in the evaluation and implementation of cancer control strategies nationally and internationally. 

Minderoo Foundation CEO John Hartman, stated:  

“Minderoo Foundation is committed to ensuring that no woman dies from cervical cancer simply because of where she lives.  

"EPICC is a transformative initiative that is already reshaping the future of women’s health across the Indo-Pacific. By supporting countries to strengthen their cervical cancer prevention and treatment programs, EPICC is helping to close the gap in access to care – particularly for women in remote, underserved and vulnerable communities. 

“The implications are profound. Fewer women will die from a disease that is almost entirely preventable, and more will live longer, healthier lives. EPICC is not only accelerating progress toward WHO’s global elimination targets but also empowering governments and communities to lead sustainable change.” 

The University of Sydney team, led by Professor Karen Canfell AC and with Deputy Lead Professor Deborah Bateson  AM, works alongside a dedicated cohort of country partners from across the region, as well as EPICC consortium members, EPICC affiliates and global collaborators, to provide technical and hands-on support for a diverse suite of end-to-end cervical cancer elimination activities aligned with the three pillars of the WHO’s 2020 elimination strategy. 

Professor Canfell said, “Our initiative highlights the critical role of collaboration for enabling the translation of world-leading research into real-world outcomes, bringing together leading philanthropists and government support alongside local and global expertise to drive sustainable, large-scale health impact across the region.”   

EPICC is already having tangible impact in Timor-Leste, with the nation’s first HPV screen-and-treat service and outreach activities rolled out across parts of Dili this year. This builds on the country’s highly successful national HPV vaccination campaign in 2024. 

Cervical cancer is a major public health issue in Timor-Leste, being the second most common cancer among women and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. EPICC is helping tackle this challenge by supporting the Ministry of Health, with backing from the Australian Government and the Minderoo Foundation. 

"We believe this program, led by the Ministry of Health, will make a real difference for women, their families and communities," Professor Bateson, EPICC Country Lead for Timor-Leste, said. "Our focus is on providing tailored support: building prevention and treatment services, community awareness and engagement, and workforce skills, so that care becomes sustainable.  

“Too often, women die at the peak of their lives, leaving behind young children and families – a terrible tragedy. It is an honour to work alongside our incredible colleagues in Timor-Leste and with the dedicated University of Sydney team to help change this," said Professor Bateson. 

The HPV virus causes almost all cervical cancers, making prevention through HPV vaccination and screening possible. Earlier this year, the program helped launch Timor-Leste’s first same-day HPV screen-and-treat clinic using self-collection, under the leadership of Senora Madalena F.S. Gomes, National Director for Maternal and Child Health.  

At the Vera Cruz Community Health Centre in Dili, women aged 30–49 can now collect their own samples for cervical screening privately, without a pelvic exam. Samples are processed on-site, with results available within two hours. Those who test positive for high-risk HPV are evaluated for same-day treatment at the clinic. The new service uses HPV DNA testing, recommended by the WHO as part of the global cervical cancer elimination strategy. 

So far, through a combination of clinic-based screening and outreach events across Dili, over 1,000 women have been screened and over 100 treated with thermal ablation. Women ineligible for thermal ablation have been referred to the National Hospital for further management, where EPICC is supporting a new colposcopy and pre-invasive disease clinic and upgrades to the histopathology laboratory service. 

The EPICC program has also supported fifteen health professionals, five from Timor-Leste, five from Vanuatu, and five from Papua New Guinea, to participate in the EPICC Australia Awards Fellowship training program in Australia, thanks to additional Australian Government support: 

Dr José António Gusmão Guterres, a gynaecologist also known as Dr Zeto; Dr João Teodósio Amaral and Dr Águeda Li da Cruz, a medical oncologist and an obstetrician-gynecologist respectively at Guido Valadares National Hospital in Dili; Clotilde Neves de Sousa, a midwife; and Nelson Tonito Marçal Sequeira, a laboratory scientist, travelled to Sydney for an intensive study program alongside EPICC partners from Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. Here they gained practical experience in HPV screening, thermal ablation, gynae-oncology, laboratory practice, palliative care, and learned about foundational programs in other countries, returning home to embed these insights into their clinical practice in Timor.  
  
For women diagnosed with cervical cancer, treatment options in Timor-Leste remain limited. Many must travel overseas to countries including Indonesia or Malaysia, at high personal and governmental cost. EPICC is supporting improved diagnosis and access to early disease treatment, as well as streamlining referral pathways to care. 

Another focus is improving opioid access for cancer and palliative care patients, acknowledging that, tragically, some advanced cervical cancer cases are beyond treatment. Julia Da Costa, a Fulbright Scholar born in Dili, is addressing this challenge through an Australia Award PhD scholarship, supervised by Associate Professor Betty Chaar, Professor Bateson, and Professor Alex  Martinuk, to make pain relief more accessible across the healthcare system. 

“The lack of opioids affects palliative care, cancer treatment, and emergency wards, making routine procedures extremely difficult,” Julia said. “On top of this, centuries of colonialism, genocide, and the ongoing impact of war have fostered stoicism in the Timorese community, means many simply ‘grin and bear it.’” 

Professor Bateson said: “Although EPICC is a story of survival and ending cervical cancer, building capacity for women to die with dignity through palliative care remains an essential part of our work, by ensuring comfort, respect and compassion at the end of life.” 

The Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer (EPICC) program is a four-year initiative across the Indo-Pacific region that was launched by the University of Sydney and consortium partners in 2024, and which built on an earlier foundational ECCWP program supported by the Minderoo Foundation. The program aims to accelerate progress towards the elimination of cervical cancer, in alignment with the World Health Organization’s global elimination strategy. It supports regional cervical cancer planning and strategic sustainability initiatives alongside focused activities in over nine countries, including Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. 

EPICC is funded by the Australian Government and the Minderoo Foundation, and delivered by the EPICC consortium, led by the University of Sydney and including, the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer (ACPCC), the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney, Family Planning Australia, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), and Unitaid. The EPICC consortium collaborates with ministries of health and leading local and global organisations such as the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), the International Gynaecologic Cancer Society (IGCS), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI/NHI) to advance cervical cancer elimination.  

The Minderoo Foundation funding to EPICC is in addition to a total of $22 million contributed by the Australian Government, taking the combined commitment from the Australian Government and Minderoo Foundation in EPICC, and the foundational ECCWP program, to $42 million. 

Hero image: Woman receiving information on cervical screening at Vila Verde outreach centre. Credit: Rey Marques.