RAND Corporation Researchers Illuminate Research in HIV/AIDS (Cost-effectiveness of approaches to cervical cancer screening in Malawi: comparison of frequencies, lesion treatment techniques, and risk-stratified approaches).

A recent study conducted by researchers at the RAND Corporation focused on developing recommendations for cervical cancer screening in Malawi, a country with a high burden of cervical cancer and HIV prevalence. The study used a Markov model to compare different approaches to screening, including frequency and treatment methods. The results showed that thermocoagulation was more cost-effective than cryotherapy at all screening frequencies. Additionally, a stratified approach that prioritizes more frequent screening for women living with HIV may be more cost-effective than population-wide recommendations. These findings provide new evidence for cost-effective cervical cancer screening in low-income countries. [Extracted from the article]