Study title: Uptake of Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid and Cervicography (VIAC)
screening among women attending Gwanda Provincial Hospital in Zimbabwe.
Background: 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.
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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.