On 9th November 2025, the Italian scientific magazine awarded the 2025 “Raymond Zreik prize for technology and innovation” to our operational research project for urine-based HPV screening.
On behalf of the whole team from UniMi, Cabrini Ministries Eswatini and the Eswatini Ministry of Health, who collaborated at the project, Elisabetta Tanzi, Antonella Amendola, and Clara Fappani presented the project to the public and received the award.
When a scientific project leaves the laboratory and reaches people, it becomes more than just research: it becomes change.
This belief is what inspired our work, with a simple but ambitious goal: to bring cervical cancer prevention to every woman, everywhere in the world.
We chose to start in one of the places where health inequalities are most evident: Eswatini, in southern Africa. Here at St. Philip’s rural clinic, we tested an innovative HPV screening method using urine samples, a less invasive, more acceptable, and, above all, more accessible approach. For many women, it was the first opportunity to undergo screening without fear, without cultural or logistical barriers.
This project has not only expanded access to prevention, but has also allowed us to better understand the local epidemiological reality and recognize how urgent it is to develop vaccines and prevention strategies designed for women in the most affected regions of the world.
This work led to a collaboration with the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), which now allows us to look beyond: towards truly global, equitable, and sustainable prevention.
Receiving this award from Focus, a magazine that has always brought science closer to people, has a profound meaning for us: because communicating science also means building awareness and trust.
We dedicate this award to the women who participated in the project, to the communities that welcomed us, and to all those who believe that science, when shared, can truly change the world.
