Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun;20(6):621-6.
doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2013-0305. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

Expanding Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment in Tanzania: Stakeholders' Perceptions of Structural Influences on Scale-Up

Renicha McCree  1 , Mary Rose Giattas  2 , Vikrant V Sahasrabuddhe  3 , Pauline E Jolly  4 , Michelle Y Martin  5 , Stuart Lawrence Usdan  6 , Connie Kohler  7 , Nedra Lisovicz  5
Affiliations

Expanding Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment in Tanzania: Stakeholders' Perceptions of Structural Influences on Scale-Up

Renicha McCree et al. Oncologist. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Tanzania has the highest burden of cervical cancer in East Africa. This study aims to identify perceived barriers and facilitators that influence scale-up of regional and population-level cervical cancer screening and treatment programs in Tanzania. Convenience sampling was used to select participants for this qualitative study among 35 key informants. Twenty-eight stakeholders from public-sector health facilities, academia, government, and nongovernmental organizations completed in-depth interviews, and a seven-member municipal health management team participated in a focus group discussion. The investigation identified themes related to the infrastructure of health services for cervical cancer prevention, service delivery, political will, and sociocultural influences on screening and treatment. Decentralizing service delivery, improving access to screening and treatment, increasing the number of trained health workers, and garnering political will were perceived as key facilitators for enhancing and initiating screening and treatment services. In conclusion, participants perceived that system-level structural factors should be addressed to expand regional and population-level service delivery of screening and treatment.

Implications for practice: Tanzanian women have a high burden of cervical cancer. Understanding the perceived structural factors that may influence screening coverage for cervical cancer and availability of treatment may be beneficial for program scale-up. This study showed that multiple factors contribute to the challenge of cervical cancer screening and treatment in Tanzania. In addition, it highlighted systematic developments aimed at expanding services. This study is important because the themes that emerged from the results may help inform programs that plan to improve screening and treatment in Tanzania and potentially in other areas with high burdens of cervical cancer.

Keywords: Cervical cancer; Health services research; Screening and treatment; Service delivery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures of potential conflicts of interest may be found at the end of this article.

References

    1. GLOBOCAN 2012: Estimated cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012. Available at http://globocan.iarc.fr. Accessed November 8, 2014.
    1. Gakidou E, Nordhagen S, Obermeyer Z. Coverage of cervical cancer screening in 57 countries: Low average levels and large inequalities. PLoS Med. 2008;5:e132. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sitas F, Parkin DM, Chirenje M, et al. Part II: Cancer in indigenous Africans—causes and control. Lancet Oncol. 2008;9:786–795. - PubMed
    1. Schiffman M, Castle PE, Jeronimo J, et al. Human papillomavirus and cervical cancer. Lancet. 2007;370:890–907. - PubMed
    1. Tsu VD, Levin CE. Making the case for cervical cancer prevention: What about equity? Reprod Health Matters. 2008;16:104–112. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms