Open AccessCervical cancer prevention in settings of high HIV prevalence
Author(s) -
Sonia Me
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
southern african journal of hiv medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.859
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2078-6751
pISSN - 1608-9693
DOI - 10.4102/sajhivmed.v12i2.192
Subject(s) - medicine , cervical cancer , disease , incidence (geometry) , cancer , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , human papillomavirus , hpv infection , gynecology , immunology , physics , optics
Despite being a preventable disease, cervical cancer is still the second most common cancer in women worldwide. HIV infection is associated with a higher incidence, more rapid progression, and increased recurrence rates of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia and invasive cancer. The disease burden in developing countries is the result of inadequate national health care infrastructures that cannot establish or sustain comprehensive screening programmes, together with a high prevalence of HIV infection, particularly in southern Africa. In this article, clinically relevant issues for primary prevention of cervical lesions by a quadrivalent HPV vaccine and the ‘screen-and-treat’ protocol in settings of high HIV prevalence will be explored