Understanding integrated HPV testing and treatment of pre-cancerous cervical cancer in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guatemala and Philippines: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Many low- and-middle-income countries are disproportionately burdened by cervical cancer, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. HPV-DNA testing coupled with treatment with thermal ablation is a recommended screening and precancer treatment strategy, but not enough is known about how this can be effectively implemented in the context of integrated services. The (Scale Up Cervical Cancer Elimination by Secondary prevention Strategy, (SUCCESS) project is conducting a study to understand this approach, integrated into existing women's health services in Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guatemala, and the Philippines (2020-2024). METHODS: A hybrid effectiveness-implementation type III mixed-methods observational study design is used to assess feasibility, acceptability, and costs of integrated service delivery in 10 sites per country, selected considering urban/rural location, facility level, onsite/offsite laboratories, and health services type. In each country, a sample size of 2227 women aged 25-49 years will be enrolled with about 20% being women living with HIV. The primary outcome is proportion of HPV positive women completing precancer treatment, if eligible, within three months of screening. Data collection and analysis includes; facility and client exit surveys, key informant and client interviews, registries and project records extractions, and costing data analysis. Analysis includes descriptive statistics, context description, thematic analysis, and document analysis. Quantitative analyses will be stratified by participant's HIV status. DISCUSSION: Recruitment of study participants started in April 2022 (Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire) and August 2022 (Guatemala and the Philippines). Enrolment targets for women screened, client exit, in-depth and key informant interviews conducted were reached in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire in November 2022. Guatemala and Philippines are expected to complete enrolment by June 2023. Follow-up of study Participants 12-months post-treatment is ongoing and is expected to be completed for all countries by August 2024. In LMICs, integrating cervical cancer secondary prevention services into other health services will likely require specific rather than incidental recruitment of women for screening. Reconfiguration of laboratory infrastructure and planning for sample management must be made well in advance to meet induced demand for screening. Trail Registration ClinicalTrials.Gov ID: NCT05133661 (24/11/2021).

Scaling Up Early Infant Male Circumcision: Lessons From the Kingdom of Swaziland.

BACKGROUND: The government of the Kingdom of Swaziland recognizes that it must urgently scale up HIV prevention interventions, such as voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). Swaziland has adopted a 2-phase approach to male circumcision scale-up. The catch-up phase prioritizes VMMC services for adolescents and adults, while the sustainability phase involves the establishment of early infant male circumcision (EIMC). Swaziland does not have a modern-day tradition of circumcision, and the VMMC program has met with client demand challenges. However, since the launch of the EIMC program in 2010, Swaziland now leads the Eastern and Southern Africa region in the scale-up of EIMC. Here we review Swaziland's program and its successes and challenges. METHODS: From February to May 2014, we collected data while preparing Swaziland's "Male Circumcision Strategic and Operational Plan for HIV Prevention 2014-2018." We conducted structured stakeholder focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, and we collected EIMC service delivery data from an implementing partner responsible for VMMC and EIMC service delivery. Data were summarized in consolidated narratives. RESULTS: Between 2010 and 2014, trained providers performed more than 5,000 EIMCs in 11 health care facilities in Swaziland, and they reported no moderate or severe adverse events. According to a broad group of EIMC program stakeholders, an EIMC program needs robust support from facility, regional, and national leadership, both within and outside of HIV prevention coordination bodies, to promote institutionalization and ownership. Providers and health care managers in 3 of Swaziland's 4 regional hospitals suggest that when EIMC is introduced into reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health platforms, dedicated staff attention can help ensure that EIMC is performed amid competing priorities. Creating informed demand from communities also supports EIMC as a service delivery priority. Formative research shows that EIMC programs should address the fears and anxieties of parents so that they, especially fathers, understand the health benefits of EIMC before the birth of their babies. CONCLUSION: The vast majority of public-sector facilities in Swaziland are led by nurses, and nurses and midwives have borne the brunt of caring for patients with HIV/AIDS in Swaziland. Like prevention of mother-to-child transmission, EIMC provides an opportunity for nurses and midwives to stand at the forefront of HIV prevention efforts. Rapid scale-up of VMMC and EIMC in Swaziland has the potential to avert more than 56,000 HIV infections and save US$370 million in the next 20 years.