Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to face a high burden of invasive cervical cancer due to many factors at play throughout the continuum of cancer care for this preventable and treatable disease. The HIV burden in the region and associated comorbid conditions have significant impact on health care provision in general, even in the current era of wide availability of highly effective antiretroviral therapy. It is reported that 1 in 20 women with ICC worldwide have concomitant HIV infection. In SSA it is as frequent as 1 in 5 women. Cervical cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among women with HIV worldwide. The May 2018 WHO global call for action to eliminate cervical cancer has one of its pillars on treatment as 90% of women with pre-cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed by 2030. With such high proportions of women having both ICC and HIV, this subgroup of women calls for special focus to achieve optimal management strategies that will ensure they are not left behind as this global strategy evolves.

Women with both ICC and HIV have been shown to be largely younger women with more advanced cancers and poorer survival. Whilst patient factors may be at play, a number of factors affecting provision of universal health coverage in SSA contribute to this outcome. The standard of therapy for ICC is chemoradiation which is scarce in SSA and HIV status is still a consideration in some settings when deciding to treat or not to treat.

This presentation will provide an overview of some key barriers to managing ICC in HIV positive women in SSA and suggested ways to overcome them.