Prevalence of Cervical Cancer and Clinical Management of Women Screened positive using visual inspection with acetic acid and Cervicography in selected public sector health facilities of Manicaland and Midlands provinces of Zimbabwe, 2021

BACKGROUND: Zimbabwe has high cervical cancer (CC) burden of 19% and mortality rate of 64%. Zimbabwe uses Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid and Cervicography (VIAC) for CC screening. Manicaland and Midlands provinces recorded low VIAC positivity of 3% (target 5–25%) and treatment coverage of 78% (target = 90%) between October 2020 and September 2021. OBJECTIVES: We explored VIAC positivity rate and clinical management of clients screening positive in Manicaland and Midlands provinces. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study using routine VIAC and CC management data for period October 2020 to September 2021. Two samples were used, 1) a sample drawn from 48,000 women VIAC screened to measure positivity rate, and 2) a sample of 1,763 VIAC positive women to assess clinical management. Kobo-based tool was used to abstract data from facility registers, and data were analyzed using STATA 15. RESULTS: We analyzed data for 2,454 out of 48,000 women screened through VIAC. About 82% (2,007/2,454) were HIV positive, median ages were 40 and 38 years for HIV positives and negatives respectively. Most (64% and 77%) of HIV positive and negative clients respectively were married. VIAC positivity was 5.9% and 3.4% among HIV positive and negative women screened for the first time, and 3.2% and 5.6% for repeat visits respectively. Overall, 89.1% (1,571/1,763) of VIAC positive women received treatment. Most (41%) of those treated received thermocoagulation. Overall, 43.1% of clients received treatment on VIAC day, and 77.4% within 30 days. Six-month post-treatment coverage was 3.8%. CONCLUSION: VIAC positivity among HIV positive women screening for the first time was 5.9%, within the expected 5–25%. Treatment coverage was high, and turnaround time from diagnosis to treatment met national standards. Post-treatment coverage was suboptimal. We recommend continued implementation of quality improvement initiatives, capacity building of clinicians, and optimization of post-treatment review of clients.