Involving hard-to-reach populations is pivotal for the tailoring and implementation of an epidemiological study in cross-border communities of French Guiana and Suriname.

Background: Hard-to-reach, vulnerable and cross-border populations are often disproportionately affected by communicable diseases. Epidemiological data on viral hepatitis in French Guiana and Suriname are available for urban areas, but not for remote communities. The Maroni River, which separates FG and Suriname, is home to Tribal and Indigenous communities.

Implementation of human papillomavirus testing in cervical screening without a concomitant decrease in participation rate.

Adding high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing to screening increases the efficacy of cervical screening programmes. However, hrHPV testing may result in a lower participation rate because of the perceived association with sexually transmitted infections. We describe how testing for hrHPV was added to cervical screening in the POpulation-BAsed SCreening study AMsterdam (POBASCAM) trial.