Women's experiences in a community-based screen-and-treat cervical cancer prevention program in rural Malawi: a qualitative study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Malawi has the world's highest cervical cancer incidence and mortality due to high rate of HIV coupled with inadequate screening and treatment services. The country's cervical cancer control program uses visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy, but screening is largely limited by poor access to facilities, high cost of cryotherapy gas, and high loss-to-follow-up. To overcome these limitations, we implemented a community-based screen-and-treat pilot program with VIA and thermocoagulation. Through a qualitative study, we explore the experiences of women who underwent this community-based pilot screening program.

Methods

We implemented our pilot program in rural Malawi and conducted an exploratory qualitative sub-study. We conducted in-depth intervie

SUBMITTER: Lee F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8061221 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature