Cervical Cancer Screening Using Papanicolaou Smear and Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid and Their Correlation With Colposcopy

VIA and Pap smear serve as effective frontline screening tools, with Pap smear offering higher specificity. VIA's high sensitivity and ease of implementation make it suitable for mass screening in low-resource settings, while Pap smear provides greater diagnostic accuracy when infrastructure allows. Integrating VIA and Pap screening, followed by colposcopic confirmation, can improve early detection and reduce cervical cancer burden in LMICs. Adopting a tiered screening model, beginning with VIA at primary care levels and referring positive cases for Pap smear and colposcopy, could enhance early detection and optimize resource allocation in low-resource settings. Implementation of structured national screening programs alongside HPV vaccination is crucial to meet the WHO's 2030 cervical cancer elimination targets.