Determining the prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus infection using a novel cervical precancer screening approach in incarcerated women at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison,Ghana

Lawrence Kofi Acheampong, Kofi Effah, Joseph Emmanuel Amuah, Ethel Tekpor, Comfort Mawusi Wormenor, Isaac Gedzah, Seyram Kemawor, Ateba Cynthia Kachana, Peace Afi Danso, Nana Owusu Mensah Essel, Mabel Asomaning, Dominic Agyiri and Patrick Kafui Akakpo

https://ecancer.org/en/journal/article/1248-determining-the-prevalence-of-high-risk-human-papillomavirus-infection-using-a-novel-cervical-precancer-screening-approach-in-incarcerated-women-at-the-nsawam-medium-security-prison-ghana/abstract

Conclusions (main paper)

We present the first results of the prevalence of hr-HPV among incarcerated women in Ghana. With this high prevalence of hr-HPV (47.6%), and 13.1% having been in prison for at least 5 years, many incarcerated women are at an elevated risk of developing cervical cancer if cervical cancer prevention services are not offered in the prisons.

We have demonstrated that it is possible to offer a high level of onsite screening and treatment of precancerous lesions of the cervix even for incarcerated women in a prison using current technologies such as HPV DNA testing by the AmpFire HPV detection system (Atila Biosystems, Mountain View, CA, USA), mobile colposcopy with the EVA system (MobileODT, Israel) and thermal coagulation and LEEP with the Cure/Liger Medical thermal coagulator and electrosurgical unit (Liger/Cure Medical LLC, Utah, USA).

Author interview on the paper (Dr. Kofi Effah):

https://ecancer.org/en/video/9777-using-a-novel-cervical-precancer-screening-approach-to-detect-hpv-in-incarcerated-women-in-ghana

Twitter

https://twitter.com/ecancer/status/1404410774467100674?s=08