Assessment of barriers to the cervical cancer continuum and existing interventions in 5 African countries

Sep 30, 2026

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Assessment of barriers to the cervical cancer continuum and existing interventions in five African countries from a healthcare system perspective. Collaborators in each country prioritized obstacles across steps of the continuum using a questionnaire. Findings emphasize barriers related to service availability and effectiveness, including information system gaps linked to inadequate population registries. Many interventions mainly target improved access to screening. Results were mapped with INTERVENER to identify evidence-based responses, guiding future research and quality improvement monitoring.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Aim

Methods

Results

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Introduction

Mosquera etal. BMC Public Health (2026) 26:111 BMC Public Health [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25733-2](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25733-2) RESEARCH Open Access Assessment of barriers to the cervical cancer continuum and existing interventions in 5 African countries Isabel Mosquera 1*, Arunah Chandran 1, Mary Luz Rol 1, Adie Yao Mesmin Olivier2, Yacubu Bakare Herve Julius2, Takelech Moges Asnake3, Frank Rwabinumi Mugabe4, Bridget Kebirungi4, Mwate Joseph Chaila5, George Pupwe6, Bothwell Takaingofa Guzha7, Ndabaningi Simango8, Sharon Kapambwe9, Jean Marie Dangou9, Partha Basu 1 and Andre Lopes Carvalho 1 Abstract Background Several studies have been conducted in Africa on barriers to cervical cancer screening from the individual and the healthcare professional perspective, while the existing interventions to overcome these barriers have been seldom reported. Our aim was to assess the barriers to the cervical cancer continuum process from the healthcare system perspective, and interventions in place to improve screening in 5 African countries: Cȏte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Methods As part of a training, collaborators from the five countries filled in a questionnaire on barriers to the cervical cancer continuum and interventions in place to improve screening. They had to prioritize barriers at each step of the process of the cancer continuum organization. Results were presented using outputs from INTERVENER, a web-based tool matching barriers to the cancer continuum and evidence-based interventions to overcome them. Results Barriers were mainly related to service availability (e. g., shortage of trained personnel for further management), and effectiveness, including information system barriers, mostly linked to an inadequate population registry. On the other hand, many interventions implemented in the countries focused on improving access to screening services. Conclusion Future research should aim to understand the underlying causes of the barriers to guide the design and implementation of interventions to overcome them. As part of quality improvement, countries should monitor and evaluate the interventions’ impact over time. Keywords Barriers, Interventions, Cancer, Screening, Africa, Cȏte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe *Correspondence: Isabel Mosquera [mosquerai@iarc.who.int](mosquerai@iarc.who.int) 1Early Detection, Prevention & Infections Branch, International Agency for Research On Cancer, 25 Avenue Tony Garnier, 69366 Lyon Cedex 07, France 2Ministry of Health, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire 3Ministry of Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 4Ministry of Health, Kampala, Uganda 5Catholic Relief Services, Lusaka, Zambia 6Cancer Diseases Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia 7University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe 8Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare, Zimbabwe 9World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l]

FAQs

What was the study’s aim regarding the cervical cancer continuum?

To assess barriers to the cervical cancer continuum process from the healthcare system perspective and to examine interventions in place to improve screening in five African countries.

How were barriers and interventions evaluated in the five countries?

Collaborators completed a questionnaire and prioritized barriers at each step of the continuum; results were presented using INTERVENER, which matches barriers to evidence-based interventions.

What types of barriers were reported as most prominent?

Barriers were mainly linked to service availability and effectiveness, including information system barriers associated with inadequate population registries.

Sep 30, 2026

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