Challenges to cervical cancer screening in the Western Cape province.

Carcinoma of the cervix is the second most common cancer among South African women, with 1 in 41 women developing the disease in her lifetime. Although population-based screening programmes using Pap smears can substantially decrease the incidence of the disease, such programmes remain remarkably difficult to implement. Lack of resources and available treatment, low community awareness, poor quality of Pap smears, and inadequate rates of follow-up are foremost among the documented obstacles to successful cytological screening.