An Australian doctor is changing the lives of Fijian women through a simple procedure that catches the early signs of cervical cancer.
Nicola Fitzgerald first travelled to the Pacific nation during her medical training, seeing first-hand how the women's lives were ruined by the disease.
"We couldn't really do anything for them and all of them were really young and had little kids," she told AAP.
"It really just broke my heart more than anything."
It prompted Dr Fitzgerald to launch an early detection program called the Pacific Island Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative.
Since 2018, the Melbourne doctor and volunteer gynaecologists, midwives, nurses and GPs have travelled to Fiji each year to screen women for the deadly disease.
The result of a woman's self-collected test is returned within 45 minutes, showing whether they are positive for a high-risk type of human papillomavirus.
Those who test positive can be treated on the same day to remove pre-cancerous cells.
"In Fiji and other Pacific countries, it can be really difficult for women to access care," Dr Fitzgerald said.
"Some of the women live really far away from health centres and some can't get away from their work or their children.
"Hopefully we've been able to make a difference to some of these women's lives."
About 136 Fijian women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and 92 die from the disease annually, according to World Health Organisation estimates.
During each of Dr Fitzgerald's five-day programs, up to 400 women are screened with about 10 to 15 per cent requiring treatment each time.
In the latest session in August, 302 women were tested with 17 per cent returning positive results.
A quarter of those women then received pre-cancerous cell removal treatment.
"We jump in the bus at five o'clock in the morning and arrive at the town around the eight o'clock mark," Dr Fitzgerald said.
"When we arrive, often there's lots of women waiting.
"We start screening as soon as we can and often we're there until quite late at night - but we really enjoy it."
Making cervical cancer testing easier and more accessible was important in nations like Fiji, Pathology Awareness Australia executive officer John Crothers said.
"The earlier we can detect it using really innovative technology, the bigger the impact," he said.
"We see ourselves in Australia as having a responsibility to reach out, come over with the resources, capabilities, technology and intervene at a point where it's really important - early intervention.
"Because once it gets away from you, these cancers are unfortunately going to have a really sad outcome."
Dr Fitzgerald and the other volunteers are planning to make their next trip to Fiji in June where they expect to screen hundreds of more women.
She hopes the program can one day be expanded to other nations.
"If we have the staff and we have the funding, I'd really love to roll it out across the Pacific," she said.
