Evaluation of Cervical Screening Coverage in Kalutara District

Objective:
To determine the cervical screening coverage of women 40-60 years in Kalutara District since the inception of the programme in 1996.

Methodology:
Cervical screening which is conducted in Well Woman Clinics (WWC), involves both visual inspection of the cervix and Pap smear testing. A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted to assess the cervical screening coverage achieved since the inception of the programme and to assess the quality of services. The area investigated was the Kalutara district and individual MOH (Medical Officer of Health) areas within it. Data of screened females between 33 to 63 years were obtained from the records maintained in the WWClinics

Results
The results were expressed as a percentage of the total 40-60 females in the District and individual MOH areas. The cervical screening coverage in Kalutara District was 2.2% since the inception of the programme. Although the cover-age was low, a rising trend of cervical screening from 1996 was observed particularly after the year 1998. Only three MOH areas out of 7 conducted more than 4 WWClinics per month, which is the recommendation of Ministry of Health. Seventy four percent (1135) of total screenings (1535) were performed in those three clinics. Only one MOH area conducted an out-reach clinic. Five MOH areas conducted the clinics in combination with Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning (MCH/FP) clinics, while the other two MOH areas conducted separate WWClinics. The highest cumulative coverage was observed in Bulathsinhala MOH area (9.3%) where there were more than 4 WWclinics per month and clinics were conducted separately.

Conclusion
The low cervical screening coverage of 2.2% over a 5 year period in Kalutara District resembled the cervical screen-ing coverage pattern in other developing countries. Cervical screening coverage could be increased by increasing fre-quency and number of clinics especially in the periphery and conducting WWClinics separately without combining with MCH/FP Clinics.

Key words: Cervical screening; Well Woman Clinics; evaluation; coverage

DOI: 10.4038/jccpsl.v14i1.2946

Journal of the College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka Vol.14(1) 2009 33-38