# Mumbai VIA cervical screening trial (Tata Memorial)

Source: https://onco.cc/trials/mumbai-via-screening/  
OnCo record `mumbai-via-screening` (Trial). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Health workers with a torch and vinegar, screening women in Mumbai's slums every two years, cut cervical cancer deaths by 31% in a trial of more than 150,000 women.

## Summary

75,360 women in ten screening clusters and 76,178 in ten control clusters were enrolled; screening participation was 89% and compliance with diagnostic confirmation 79.4%. Invasive cervical cancer incidence was similar (26.74 versus 27.49 per 100,000) but cervical cancer mortality fell by 31% (rate ratio 0.69; 95% CI 0.54-0.88; P=0.003), with better treatment completion in the screened group (86.3% versus 72.3%). The authors estimated that this approach could prevent about 22,000 cervical cancer deaths a year in India. Together with Osmanabad it shaped India's operational guidelines for population screening where HPV testing is not yet affordable.

## Fields

- Kind: Trial
- Status: positive
- Last checked: 2026-09-10
- Phase: 3
- Setting: Cluster-randomised trial in 20 slum clusters of Mumbai: visual inspection with acetic acid by trained primary health workers every 2 years vs health education, women aged 35-64
- Sponsor: Tata Memorial Centre
- Enrolled: 151538
- Result: Cervical cancer mortality rate ratio 0.69 (31% reduction).
- Outcomes: Cervical cancer mortality (rate ratio): VIA screening by health workers 0.69

## Sources

- Shastri et al., JNCI 2014: https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/dju009

## Connected records

- cancers: [Cervical cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/cervical/)
- technologies: [Colposcopy and excisional treatment (LEEP/LLETZ, cone)](https://onco.cc/technologies/colposcopy-excision/), [HPV DNA testing and self-sampling](https://onco.cc/technologies/hpv-testing/), [Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) for cervical screening](https://onco.cc/technologies/via-cervical-screening/)
- institutions: [Tata Memorial Centre](https://onco.cc/institutions/tata-memorial/)
- trials: [Osmanabad cervical screening trial (HPV testing vs cytology vs VIA)](https://onco.cc/trials/osmanabad-hpv-screening/)
- people: [Surendra Shastri](https://onco.cc/people/shastri-surendra/)
- bottlenecks: [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/), [Not enough oncologists, nurses, pathologists, physicists](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-workforce/), [The hardest cancers are found late](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-early-detection/)
- key papers: [Effect of VIA screening by primary health workers: randomized controlled study in Mumbai, India](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-shastri-j-natl-cancer-inst/)
- terms: [Cluster-randomised trial](https://onco.cc/terms/cluster-randomised-trial/)
- roadmaps: [Global access and affordability roadmap: essential medicines and generics → biosimilars and frugal trials → reliance, pooling and homegrown innovation](https://onco.cc/roadmaps/global-access-roadmap/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/mumbai-via-screening.json