Global strategies for cervical cancer prevention and screening

Abstract

Cervical cancer is highly preventable and can be easily treated if detected at early stages. However there is disproportionate high burden of cervical cancer incidence and mortality in low-middle income (LMIC) country settings that lack organized screening and prevention programs. Robust evidence for prevention and screening of cervical cancer is currently available. However there are barriers for country specific adoption and implementation. These pose unique challenges such as organizing prevention and screening services delivery through the current health infrastructure, access to screening facilities, follow-up management and adequate linkages for confirmatory diagnosis and subsequent treatment. Overall cervical cancer screening rates and cancer screening among women still remains suboptimal in many LMIC's. Considering the complexities involved in organization, service uptake and delivery of population based cervical cancer prevention and screening programs, this article aims to provide evidence based appropriate, affordable and effective standardized cervical cancer prevention and screening guidelines that are operationally feasible to help adopt best practices for uniform adaptation and implementation leveraging with the existing public health care settings. Cost-effective strategies and tools to reduce cervical cancer burden worldwide to mitigate the existing disparities in cervical cancer burden between low-resourced and high-resourced settings are needed. The current cervical cancer prevention and screening guidelines are drawn from the most robust evidence generated from the randomised trials and cross-sectional studies undertaken in the socioeconomic, cultural and health systems context of varied geographic settings and therefore conform towards applicability for wide-scale, sustainable and uniform implementation of population based cervical cancer screening and prevention program.