Reliance Industries Limited's step-down subsidiary Karkinos Healthcare has completed HPV DNA screening for over 100,000 women across India, expanding access to cervical cancer screening and follow-up care. The screening was conducted through public-health programmes, public-private partnerships, CSR-supported initiatives, nurse-assisted and self-sampling programmes, district-level screening efforts, and focused outreach for underserved communities.
The program uses World Health Organization-recommended HPV DNA testing as the preferred primary screening method for cervical cancer. Karkinos Healthcare's model addresses limitations of access to screening and loss to follow-up after a positive result through a digitally enabled continuum of care that integrates awareness, screening, tracking, triage, navigation, and follow-up.
A large share of the women reached are those who may not otherwise have had access to screening. HPV DNA testing can be delivered at scale in India through technology-driven care pathways using these implementation models.
Karkinos Healthcare targets scaling this effort to one million tests next, and to 100 million tests thereafter, with the backing of Reliance Industries Limited. The subsidiary said the learnings and infrastructure developed through this programme can support wider adoption of organised cervical cancer screening and contribute to India's cervical cancer elimination efforts.
Cervical cancer remains among the most common cancers in Indian women, with roughly 120,000 new cases and over 75,000 deaths annually. With timely screening and appropriate follow-up care, most cervical cancer deaths can be avoided.
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