Visual Screening Approaches: Promising Alternative Screening Strategies Cervical Cancer Prevention

Given the challenges of implementing high-quality cervical cancer prevention services, especially in developing countries, there is considerable interest in exploring the accuracy and acceptability of visual approaches to detect precursor cervical disease and/or cancer. There are several types of visual screening. Early studies used visual inspection, which involved simply looking at the cervix with the unaided eye for any signs of early cancer. Also known as “downstaging,” this approach was not accurate in identifying precursor lesions or cancer. Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) has been shown to be a more promising screening approach for identifying women with high-grade precancerous lesions. VIA: An Overview