{"entity":{"id":"paper-metekoua-hiv-status-cancer-registry-south-africa-cancer-med-2026","kind":"paper","name":"Integration of HIV Status in Cancer Surveillance in South Africa: A Call for Action","aka":[],"tldr":"Of nearly half a million cancers recorded by South Africa's national registry from 2004 to 2021, only 41 per cent had a documented HIV status; among those that did, three in four people with infection-related cancers were living with HIV.","summary":"The authors used natural language processing on free-text pathology reports and probabilistic record linkage to match cancers diagnosed in public laboratories between 2004 and 2021, recorded in the National Cancer Registry, to HIV-related tests in the National Health Laboratory Service's data warehouse, and assigned HIV status from the tests and their timing relative to diagnosis.","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"Cancer Med 2026","url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.71661"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41749063/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["kaposi-sarcoma","cervical"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["national-cancer-registry-south-africa","nhls-south-africa"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":["mazvita-muchengeti"],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Cancer Medicine","year":2026,"doi":"10.1002/cam4.71661","pmid":"41749063","authors":"Metekoua C, Wiggill T, Tombe-Nyahuma T, Ruffieux Y, Mwansa-Kambafwile J, Kwenda S, Dhokotera TG, Bohlius J, Rohner E, Muchengeti M","paperType":"observational","findings":["Of 496,517 cancers, 203,937 (41%) had a documented HIV status, rising from 29% in 2004 to 2009 to 52% in 2016 to 2021.","Among cancers with a documented status, HIV prevalence was 75% for infection-related and 32% for infection-unrelated cancers.","Documentation was more likely for women and for infection-related cancers, and less likely in population groups other than Black Africans."],"whatItMeans":"Many people diagnosed with cancer in South Africa are living with HIV, which affects their treatment, but registry records often do not say so; the authors call on clinicians and pathologists to record HIV status at diagnosis.","caveats":["Public-laboratory cancers only.","HIV status is inferred from laboratory tests and their timing, not from a clinical record."],"participants":496517},"route":"/key-papers/paper-metekoua-hiv-status-cancer-registry-south-africa-cancer-med-2026/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"cervical","kind":"cancer","name":"Cervical cancer","route":"/cancers/cervical/"},{"id":"kaposi-sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Kaposi sarcoma","route":"/cancers/kaposi-sarcoma/"}],"institution":[{"id":"national-cancer-registry-south-africa","kind":"institution","name":"National Cancer Registry, South Africa","route":"/institutions/national-cancer-registry-south-africa/"},{"id":"nhls-south-africa","kind":"institution","name":"National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa","route":"/institutions/nhls-south-africa/"}],"person":[{"id":"mazvita-muchengeti","kind":"person","name":"Mazvita Muchengeti","route":"/people/mazvita-muchengeti/"}]}}