Publications by authors named "Tasimba Mhizha"
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess the feasibility and acceptance of using HPV testing as the main method for cervical cancer screening in public health programs across five sub-Saharan African countries.
- A total of 15,766 women participated, with HPV tests showing that 32% were HPV positive; however, only 72% of those received their results, indicating gaps in care.
- Despite challenges in the follow-up process, the research concluded that HPV testing can be effectively implemented, especially with facilities available for immediate treatment once women received appropriate results.
Background: Cervical cancer screening programs that use visual inspection with acetic acid to identify women with pre-cancerous lesions in Zimbabwe have had limited success due to challenges with human resource constraints and patient acceptability. Nucleic acid amplification tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) have been endorsed by the World Health Organization for cervical cancer screening, along with self-collection of samples. As evidence shows self-collected sampling to be acceptable and preferable, Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) required a comparative analysis on the agreement between self- and clinician-collected samples for testing with Hologic Aptima HPV mRNA assay, to determine if self-collected samples could be used as another method to increase coverage of cervical cancer screening programs.
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