The Ballseye programme: a mixed-methods programme of research in traditional sexual health and alternative community settings to improve the sexual health of men in the UK

Self-collection of urine, pharyngeal and anal specimens for chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing was highly acceptable among HIV PrEP clients in Vietnam, with 97.9% providing specimens from all three sites and 99.4% willing to repeat the process; cost was the most important factor influencing testing preferences.

Preferences and Acceptability of Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections in an HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Clinic in Hanoi, Vietnam — Bui et al., Sexually transmitted diseases (paywalled) · source ↗

• acceptability
• economics
• sti
• self-collection
• urine

Urine self-sampling for HPV detection showed good agreement with clinician-collected cervical samples (Kappa 0.72) under optimised conditions of 40 mM EDTA preservative, storage at 25°C, and processing within 72 hours. With a cost of USD 1.10 and high acceptability among women and healthcare workers, this method offers a practical decentralised screening approach for resource-limited settings.

Performance of an affordable urine self-sampling method for human papillomavirus detection in Mexican women — Hernández-López et al., PloS one · source ↗

• acceptability
• economics
• sti
• self-collection
• hpv
• liquid
• urine
• validation

A study of 2500 women found 99.0% agreement between first-void urine and vaginal self-sampling for HPV detection using Cobas4800, with 98.1% of participants preferring urine. Although conducted in a resource-limited setting which may limit generalisability, these results support urine as a viable sample type for decentralised, patient-centric screening.

Comparative efficacy, feasibility and acceptability of HPV DNA testing on first-void urine versus self-collected vaginal samples: a real-world study in a resource-limited setting — Bose et al., BMJ global health · source ↗

• urine
• first-void
• self-collection
• acceptability
• hpv
• sti

First-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs showed similar sensitivity and specificity to clinician-collected cervical samples for high-risk HPV detection across two real-time PCR assays, supporting their use as decentralised, patient-collected alternatives; most women preferred first-void urine for regular cervical screening.

Comparative performance of first-void urine and self-collected vaginal swabs against clinician-collected cervical samples using 2 HPV real-time assays in Indian women — A et al., Journal of gynecologic oncology (paywalled) · source ↗

• acceptability
• first-void
• sti
• self-collection
• hpv
• urine

This randomised sub-study found return rates of 10.4% for Colli-Pee, 10.1% for FLOQSwabs and 7.4% for Evalyn-Brush. All devices yielded sufficient DNA with low invalid rates, but the authors noted the study was limited by low overall participation.

Comparison of three different hpv self-sampling tools - a subanalysis of the prospective, randomized hannover self-collection study — Hempel et al., Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · source ↗

• urine
• first-void
• colli-pee
• self-collection
• acceptability
• hpv
• sti