**7.3. HPV testing**

The fact that 99% of cervical cancer is caused by identifiable onocogenic strains of human papilloma virus mainly 16,18 screening for HPV virus is a realistic modality that is currently been used. Ronco et al 2014, demonstrated that screening using HPV testing provided 60-70% greater protection against cervical cancer when compared to the conventional cytology 20% of women will have HPV infection using sensitive technologies such as hybrid capture 2 (HC2), which is a signal amplification test and polymerase chain reaction, which is a target-amplified test. It has a high sensitivity but poor specificity however has a high negative predictive value, which excludes women not likely to have cervical intraepithelial neoplasm. As part of the recommendations of the United States Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) screening for women above the age of 30years can be prolonged to 5years if HPV testing is added to conventional screening (Grade A recommendation)
