Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) has been documented to be the major cause of cancer-related deaths among women majorly in low and middle income countries such as Kenya. Despite cervical cancer increasingly being a huge national public health problem, uptake of cervical cancer preventive services in health facilities is still as low as 5%. The aim of this review was to identify all documented reasons for the very low utilization of cervical cancer preventive services in Kenya and other low- middle income countries and the proposed interventional strategies to increase the uptake. Using the key words cervical cancer screening, cervical cancer prevention, barriers, low- middle income countries and Kenya, an online search was done for published articles, reviews reports on uptake of cervical cancer preventive services. In total, 48 articles published between 2000 and 2018 were analyzed.

 Three broad reasons identified as main factors hindering women at risk from utilizing cervical cancer preventive services in low- middle income countries include personal or individual, health systems and societal perspectives.

In order to significantly improve the uptake of cervical cancer preventive services in Kenya and other low- middle income countries, there is an urgent need to prioritize and integrate strategies to identify most suitable interventions. This review proposes on the interventions that will focus on health policies, sensitization of the African health care providers and awareness creation targeting women at risk of cervical cancer.

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James Mburu Kangethe

Comprehensive Care Center, Kenyatta National Hospital, P.O.BOX 20723- 00202, Nairobi Kenya

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