Community-Led Screening Expands Life-Saving Cervical Cancer Prevention

Zambia has expanded nurse-led cervical cancer screening since 2006, reaching over 1.5 million women and dramatically improving early detection despite limited resources.

“Progress does not come from ideal conditions, it comes from shaping systems around people’s real needs,” said Senior Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II, community leader and cervical cancer prevention advocate.

The programme integrated screening into HIV clinics, trained nurses to deliver services, and introduced HPV DNA testing across all 10 provinces by 2019. Uptake reached 95% among women offered screening, compared with only about 10,000 women ever screened nationwide in earlier decades, demonstrating how community leadership and pragmatic health system design can scale prevention and serve as a model for countries facing workforce shortages.