Pap Smears a Bridging Tool from the Fields to Lab in Cervical Cancer Screening Camps in Rural India

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality among women in countries like India and south Asian countries due to poor screening facilities Screening programs have shown substantial impact in reducing incidence and mortality; however, their success largely depends on the quality of Pap smear collection, fixation, and interpretation [1]. In low-resource settings like rural parts of India where health facilities are less. Community or field-based screening camps helps to identify the disease in early stages for several technical limitations often compromise smear adequacy and diagnostic reliability. The Pap smear becomes the only test in such settings to identify the disease in the initial stages and to know the disease burden in the rural population