Zimbabwe Pilot Program Underway

Zimbabwe's National Aids Council's (NAC) TruScreen Pilot Project is underway.

TruScreen facilitated a virtual TruScreen trainer training program in mid-August. 20 new TruScreen operators have now been trained for the pilot and 8 devices have been rolled out in the region. The initial pilot phase is to screen 500 women by October.

The pilot will compare TruScreen to visual inspection with acetic acid and cervicography (VIAC). VIAC is currently the common screening method for cervical cancer in the region. The NAC pilot hopes to have TruScreen replace VIAC as the primary cervical cancer screening tool.

Cervical cancer is the most prevalent and deadly cancer for women in Zimbabwe[1]. Women living with HIV have a six-fold increased risk of cervical cancer compared to women without HIV[2]. We hope to see continued momentum and look forward to seeing the outcome of this ground-breaking pilot programme.

References:

[1] Data source: GLOBCAN 2020, International Agency for Research on Cancer 2021
[2] Stelzle D, Tanaka LF, Lee KK, Ibrahim Khalil A, Baussano I, Shah ASV, et al. Estimates of the global burden of cervical cancer associated with HIV. Lancet Glob Health 2020. doi:S2214-109X(20)30459-9.