Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-15-2022
Identifier
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.930462; PMCID: PMC9520305
Abstract
Although preventable, Cervical Cancer (CC) is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Sub-Saharan Africa with the highest incidence in East Africa. Kenyan guidelines recommend an immediate screen and treat approach using either Pap smear or visual screening methods. However, system (e.g., inadequate infrastructure, weak treatment, referral and tracking systems) and patient (e.g., stigma, limited accessibility, finance) barriers to comprehensive country wide screening continue to exist creating gaps in the pathways of care. These gaps result in low rates of eligible women being screened for CC and a high loss to follow up rate for treatment. The long-term goal of 70% CC screening and treatment coverage can partly be achieved by leveraging electronic health (eHealth, defined here as systems using Internet, computer, or mobile applications to support the provision of health services) to support service efficiency and client retention. To help address system level barriers to CC screening treatment and follow up, our team developed an eHealth tool-the Cancer Tracking System (CATSystem), to support CC screening, treatment, and on-site and external referrals for reproductive age women in Kenya. Preliminary data showed a higher proportion of women enrolled in the CATSystem receiving clinically adequate (patients tested positive were treated or rescreened to confirm negative within 3 months) follow up after a positive/suspicious screening, compared to women in the retrospective arm.
Journal Title
Front Med (Lausanne)
Volume
9
First Page
930462
Last Page
930462
Keywords
Kenya; cervical cancer screening; cervical cancer tracking; cervical cancer treatment; eHealth (mobile Health); system—level
Recommended Citation
Mabachi NM, Wexler C, Acharya H, et al. Piloting a systems level intervention to improve cervical cancer screening, treatment and follow up in Kenya. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022;9:930462. Published 2022 Sep 15. doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.930462
Comments
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Publisher's Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.930462/full