Skip to main content
NCBI home page
NIHPA Author Manuscripts logoLink to NIHPA Author Manuscripts
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Aug 6.
Published in final edited form as: N Engl J Med. 2009 Jul 16;361(3):305–306.

HPV screening for cervical cancer in rural India

Mulindi H Mwanahamuntu 1, Vikrant V Sahasrabuddhe 2, Groesbeck P Parham 3
PMCID: PMC4123656  NIHMSID: NIHMS605349  PMID: 19610158

To the Editor

Interest in implementing cervical cancer prevention services in developing nations will probably peak as a result of the powerful evidence reported by Sankaranarayanan et al. Unfortunately, expenditures on health care and health care–related development assistance may shrink because of the ongoing global financial downturn.1 In this scenario, the integration of cervical-cancer prevention services with other population-based health care programs may provide valuable opportunities for cost-effective initiation, expansion, and sustainability of these services.

Programs for the prevention and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are being implemented in many developing nations, where cervical-cancer incidence and mortality rates are also high. HIV–AIDS programs are slowly but substantially contributing to improved health infrastructures and increasing access to health care.2 Integration of cervical cancer prevention services within HIV–AIDS programs is an excellent opportunity to target women at highest risk for cervical cancer, as we recently showed in Zambia.3,4 Such efforts hold the promise of both saving lives from an eminently preventable cancer and strengthening the broader primary care context that is so essential for the sustainability of vertical health programs.

Contributor Information

Mulindi H. Mwanahamuntu, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Vikrant V. Sahasrabuddhe, Email: vikrant.sahasrabuddhe@vanderbilt.edu, Vanderbilt University Institute for Global Health, Nashville, TN 37203

Groesbeck P. Parham, Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

References

  • 1.Parry J, Humphreys G. Health amid a financial crisis: a complex diagnosis. Bull World Health Organ. 2009;87:4–5. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.010109. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.El-Sadr WM, Hoos D. The president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief — is the emergency over? N Engl J Med. 2008;359:553–5. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp0803762. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Mwanahamuntu MH, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Pfaendler KS, et al. Implementation of ‘see-and-treat’ cervical cancer prevention services linked to HIV care in Zambia. AIDS. 2009;23:N1–N5. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e3283236e11. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Pfaendler KS, Mwanahamuntu MH, Sahasrabuddhe VV, Mudenda V, Stringer JS, Parham GP. Management of cryotherapy-ineligible women in a “screen-and-treat” cervical cancer prevention program targeting HIV-infected women in Zambia: lessons from the field. Gynecol Oncol. 2008;110:402–7. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2008.04.031. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

RESOURCES