Uptake of visual inspection with acetic acid and cervicography screening among women attending Gwanda provincial hospital in Zimbabwe

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences; School of Public Health; University of the Witwatersrand; Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Health in the field of Maternal and Child Health OCTOBER 2015Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide. It is the leading in developing countries with 80% of those affected dying from the disease. In 2014, cervical cancer accounted for 33.5% of all cancers affecting women in Zimbabwe. Cervical cancer can be reduced significantly through implementation of effective screening programmes. Such programmes are not performing well in most low resource countries including Zimbabwe due to resource constraints. The aim of this study was to determine the uptake of VIAC screening among women who attend health services at Gwanda Provincial Hospital, and the factors which influence such uptake. Methodology: The study employed a cross-sectional analytical design. A structured researcher-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 203 conveniently sampled women who were attending health services at Gwanda Provincial Hospital in November 2014. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-squared tests and logistic regression models. Major results: Uptake of cervical cancer screening was found to be low at 14 % of the women sampled. Screening uptake was significantly associated with marital status (P = 0.05) and monthly household income (P = 0.01). Women who had prior knowledge of cervical cancer were more likely to be screened compared to those who had never heard of the disease (P = 0.06). Most women (74%) were aware of the VIAC screening programme but lacked adequate information on its importance. Dissemination of information on VIAC screening to women attending health services in the institution is not well structured. Lack of information on cervical cancer and VIAC screening was found to be the greatest barrier to the uptake of VIAC. Conclusion: More aggressive screening awareness strategies at community and health facility levels hold the most promise for improving the uptake of VIAC screening at Gwanda Provincial Hospital