{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T05:17:10Z","timestamp":1788499030532,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,29]],"date-time":"2026-08-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787961600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Tanzania is a low-to-middle-income-country (LMIC) which endures significant adverse impact from HIV-1- and HPV-associated malignancies. We investigated the performance of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) compared to the Pap smear. Methods: Screening performance was assessed in a cross-sectional study design across rural catchment clinics in Bagamoyo and Chalinze, and an urban site, Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI), in Dar es Salaam. Pap smears were performed and were read in triplicate by readers blinded to HIV status and patient demographic data. Blood samples were collected for HIV status confirmation. All cytopathology, VIA, and HIV status data were compared with patient demographic factors. Results: Here we present results from 672 patients. Analysis of participants across the cohort revealed a high rate of HIV (25%) and exchange of \u201csex for money\u201d in the rural site of Chalinze. Bagamoyo and ORCI had slightly lower HIV rates of about 16% and 12%, respectively. Despite the high HIV rates in Chalinze (25%), there was a contrastingly low-level of detectable lesions by VIA (9%) in this region. Conclusions: Overall, VIA-positive cases were 26% HSIL-positive, whereas VIA-negative cases were 14% HSIL-positive, suggesting that performance of VIA is limited.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers18172811","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T04:24:03Z","timestamp":1788150243000},"page":"2811","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Adequacy of Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) in Comparison to Pap Smear for Cervical Cancer Screening in Urban and Rural Settings of Tanzania"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Crispin","family":"Kahesa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8342-4639","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniela","family":"Gonzalez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kandali","family":"Samwel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-2540-4940","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Duan","family":"Loy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3088-4225","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cameron","family":"Klein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abigail","family":"Shotwell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1451-6107","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Martha","family":"Ricaurte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julius","family":"Mwaiselage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-4748-9101","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brenda B.","family":"Kweyamba","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asafu","family":"Munema","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Monica K.","family":"Angeletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kessy","family":"Godwin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar es Salaam P.O. Box 3592, Tanzania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elayna","family":"Brown","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gleb","family":"Haynatzki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veenu","family":"Minhas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"AbbVie,1 N Waukegan Rd., North Chicago, IL 60064, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"John T.","family":"West","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center\u2014New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Charles","family":"Wood","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center\u2014New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6084-4705","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter C.","family":"Angeletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Nebraska Center for Virology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"808","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2015.05.011","article-title":"Molecular methods for identification and characterization of novel papillomaviruses","volume":"21","author":"Kocjan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Clin. 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