BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer screening is one of the most effective cancer prevention strategies, but most women in Africa have never been screened. In 2007, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services, a large faith-based health care system in Cameroon, initiated the Women's Health Program (WHP) to address this disparity. The WHP provides fee-for-service cervical cancer screening using visual inspection with acetic acid enhanced by digital cervicography (VIA-DC), prioritizing care for women living with HIV/AIDS. They also provide clinical breast examination, family planning (FP) services, and treatment for reproductive tract infection (RTI). Here, we document the strengths and challenges of the WHP screening program and the unique aspects of the WHP model, including a fee-for-service payment system and the provision of other women's health services. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed WHP medical records from women who presented for cervical cancer screening from 2007-2014. RESULTS: In 8 years, WHP nurses screened 44,979 women for cervical cancer. The number of women screened increased nearly every year. The WHP is sustained primarily on fees-for-service, with external funding totaling about $20,000 annually. In 2014, of 12,191 women screened for cervical cancer, 99% received clinical breast exams, 19% received FP services, and 4.7% received treatment for RTIs. We document successes, challenges, solutions implemented, and recommendations for optimizing this screening model. CONCLUSION: The WHP's experience using a fee-for-service model for cervical cancer screening demonstrates that in Cameroon VIA-DC is acceptable, feasible, and scalable and can be nearly self-sustaining. Integrating other women's health services enabled women to address additional health care needs. IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE: The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services Women's Health Program successfully implemented a nurse-led, fee-for-service cervical cancer screening program using visual inspection with acetic acid-enhanced by digital cervicography in the setting of a large faith-based health care system in Cameroon. It is potentially replicable in many African countries, where faith-based organizations provide a large portion of health care. The cost-recovery model and concept of offering multiple services in a single clinic rather than stand-alone "silo" cervical cancer screening could provide a model for other low-and-middle-income countries planning to roll out a new, or make an existing, cervical cancer screening services accessible, comprehensive, and sustainable.

Background: Obesity is a well-documented risk factor for EAC, but the relationship between obesity and disease recurrence is controversial. Additionally, body weight is an inherently dynamic variable and no studies have examined the relationship between interval weight change and risk of EAC recurrence. Objectives: To identify if there is a relationship between body mass index (BMI) or interval weight change and the risk of disease recurrence among women treated for EAC. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 337 women diagnosed and treated surgically for EAC at UMass Memorial Medical Center from 2010 to 2015. The effect of BMI on risk of disease recurrence was assessed by Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, FIGO stage, myometrial invasion, lymphovascular space involvement and status of adjuvant therapy. The effect of interval weight change on EAC recurrence was assessed using logistic regression, adjusting for BMI and recurrence free interval. Results: Among 337 women diagnosed with EAC, mean BMI at diagnosis was 35.9 pounds (SD: 8.9), mean weight at diagnosis was 201.5 pounds (SD: 52.7) and mean interval weight change was -8.1 pounds (SD: 18.8). At time of data extraction there were 19 patients (5.7%) with disease recurrence. The hazard ratio for recurrence in women with BMI >50 was 11.4 [95%CI: 1.54-84.05] times that of women with BMI(p=0.02). Women who maintained or gained weight following primary surgical resection had no increased risk of recurrence compared to those who lost weight [OR: 1.02, 95%CI: 0.27-3.82] (p=0.97). Conclusion: Women with extreme obesity at diagnosis are more likely to have disease recurrence following primary surgical treatment for endometrial adenocarcinoma. However, women who lose weight following primary surgical treatment of EAC are just as likely to have disease recurrence as those who maintain or gain weight.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) implemented a screen-and-treat cervical cancer prevention program using visual inspection with acetic acid enhanced by digital cervicography (VIA-DC). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 46,048 medical records of women who received care through the CBCHS Women's Health Program from 2007 through 2014 to determine the prevalence and predictors of positive VIA-DC, rates of same day treatment, and cohort prevalence of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). RESULTS: Of the 44,979 women who were screened for cervical cancer, 9.0% were VIA-DC-positive, 66.8% were VIA-DC-negative, 22.0% were VIA-DC-inadequate (normal ectocervix, but portions of the transformation zone were obscured), and 2.2% were VIA-DC-uncertain (cervical abnormalities confounding VIA-DC interpretation). Risk factors significantly associated with VIA-DC-positive screen were HIV-positivity, young age at sexual debut, higher lifetime number of sexual partners, low education status and higher gravidity. In 2014, 31.1% of women eligible for cryotherapy underwent same day treatment. Among the 32,788 women screened from 2007 through 2013, 201 cases of ICC were identified corresponding to a cohort prevalence of 613 per 100,000. CONCLUSIONS: High rate of VIA-DC-positive screens suggests a significant burden of potential cervical cancer cases and highlights the need for expansion of cervical cancer screening and prevention throughout the 10 regions of Cameroon. VIA-DC-inadequate rates were also high, especially in older women, and additional screening methods are needed to confirm whether these results are truly negative. In comparison to similar screening programs in sub-Saharan Africa there was low utilization of same day cryotherapy treatment. Further studies are required to characterize possible program specific barriers to treatment, for example cultural demands, health system challenges and cost of procedure. The prevalence of ICC among women who presented for screening was high and requires further investigation.