Assessing the utilization of cervical cancer screening services and its associated factors among HIV positive women in settings of integrated HIV/cervical cancer screening in Rural Malawi, a case of Thyolo District
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Date
21-10-18
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Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
Abstract
1.1 TYPE OF STUDY
This will be a descriptive facility based cross-sectional study aimed at determining the
proportion of HIV positive women who have ever been screened for cervical cancer and
establishing its associated factors in settings of integrated HIV/Cervical cancer screening
services in Thyolo District, Rural Malawi.
1.2 THE PROBLEM
High HIV prevalence rate in Malawi, (10.6% of adults aged 15-64 years)(1) has been linked
withto increased cases of cervical dysplasia and neoplasia in Malawi.Consequently Likewise,
there is a high incidence, of cervical cancer with (75.9.age standardised per 100,000)(2) and
more than 80% of Malawian women diagnosed at an inoperable cancer stage,leading toe(3)
leading to high mortality rates among cervical cancer patientspatients. All these that havesve
also largely been attributed to low cervical cancer screening uptake (27% and 15% for the
general women population and women living with HIV respectively).(4)
The Malawi cervical cancer screening guidelines recommend that HIV-positive women
should have annual cervical screening at their baseline evaluation, thereafter, annually for
those with normal results. But utilization of these services remains low in Malawi even in this
population despitewho are most of them having access to health workers through routinely
attendance ating Anti-retroRviral Therapy(ART)T clinics(5). The uptake of cervical cancer
screening among HIV positive women in MalawiThe above stated figures raises a concern as
they still fall short of the Malawi national target of 80 percent despite being a high risk group
for cervical cancer. District level efforts to improve uptake of cervical cancer needs to be
implemented to improve the overall uptake for the country. However, there is a need to
understand the current uptake of the screening and the factors associated with screening
among the HIV positive patients in Thyolo. This study therefore will look at the prevalence
of cervical cancer screening and factors associated with its uptake in clinics where HIV and
cervical cancer screening services are integrated in Rural areas.