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).