Experiences from Cervical Cancer Screening Program Conducted at Low-Resource Areas in Telangana

Abstract

Background: Cancer of the uterine cervix is preventable and early detection is key to its cure. Screening methods for cervical cancer are available, however, the centres offering to screen are inadequate. The main obstacle for the success of screening efforts in women is the lack of awareness, hence a stigma about the screening procedure and the disease, not just in rural areas but also in a large group of the urban and semi-urban population. The purpose of this manuscript is to share our experiences during health camps conducted for screening women for cervical cancer, strategies adopted, leading to better compliance and complete evaluation in these women. Design and Methods: Health camps were organized for women's screening and we observed a steady improvement in their participation over a period of time, at rural and peri-urban areas close to the Hyderabad. Creating awareness, training para-medical staff, involving local voluntary bodies for conducting Pap testing and HPV subtyping, gave us optimal leads to manage these patients appropriately and recommend a suitable follow-up. Results and Conclusion: Taking a lead from studies like this and others, conducting national screening programs along with counselling for awareness of such tests and their implications to maintain good health, the burden of cervical cancer can be reduced in India.

A community based study to determine incidence of cervical cancer and willingness of women to participate in cervical cancer screening program in Navsari, Gujarat, India

“…In present study the compliance and willingness of undergoing Cervical examination and Pap test was 85.3% while in Patra S et al study, 24.1% women were willing to go for pap test examination. 11 In contrary to that 78.8% compliance was seen in Bhagwan N et al study.…”

“…18 In [21][22][23] While in Thumoju et al study 13.9% samples were having abnormal pap cytology. 24 In Sharma et al study, 4.67% showed carcinoma in-situ and 1.4% showed high grade malignancy. 25 On the basis of results in the study, it can be said that role of thorough clinical examination should be considered as 1 st line screening process as 4 NILM cases of Pap smear were diagnosed to have cervical malignancy.…”

Cervical Cancer Screening and Associated Barriers among Women in India: A Generalized Structural Equation Modeling Approach

“…The present study ascertains that woman who were aware of STIs were more likely to go for CCS. A study from India reports the lack of awareness and social stigma as the main obstacle for the success of screening programs in India [33]. Women with prior diagnosis of any STI were more likely to go for CCS [34].…”

A comparative study of Pap smear and colposcopy guided biopsy in the evaluation of unhealthy cervix

“…Subtypes HPV-16 and HPV-18 are involved in almost 99% of invasive lesion of carcinoma cervix. 10 Cervix is easy for accessibility. Cervical epithelial cells have got potential to change to dysplasia and invasive carcinoma.…”