Implementation of cervical cancer screening using visual inspection with acetic acid in rural Mozambique: successes and challenges using HIV care and treatment programme investments in Zambézia Province

Abstract

Screening and clinical services were successfully provided on a large scale for the first time ever in these rural clinics. However, health manpower shortages, equipment problems, poor paper record systems and a limited ability to follow-up patients inhibited the quality of the cervical cancer screening services. Using prior HIV investments, chronic disease screening and management for cervical cancer is feasible even in severely resource-constrained rural Africa.