Introduction: Cervical cancer's mortality and morbidity, as well as the prospect of effective screening-based prevention, make it a critical area of intervention attention. By engaging social support groups in health education, participation in cervical c cancer screening and early diagnosis of the illness in the community is enhanced. In the continuous efforts to enhance cervical cancer prevention, control, and management, technology, and digital health will play a significant role. As a result of mHealth educational activities in this region, knowledge of cervical cancer risk factors, warning signs and symptoms, and information on HPV vaccination improved. By boosting screening rates, raising awareness, and encouraging early diagnosis, mHealth methods can help reduce the symptoms of cervical cancer. These initiatives use mobile technology to give targeted and individualized information, reminders, and support, allowing individuals to be proactive in cervical cancer prevention and screening.

Objective: This study shows that e-health interventions can improve cervical cancer screening awareness, intention, and uptake. It indicates that electronics may be used to reach out to poor and medium-income countries as well as minority populations all around the world.

Conclusion: The mobile health age has shown promising promise for more efficient health care delivery throughout the world. The term "mobile" connotes the freedom and flexibility to complete any work, anywhere and at any time, as it may be utilized to prevent cervical cancer in women by raising public awareness about Pap smear screening. It is critical to stress that the use of health technology in cervical cancer screening programs should be accompanied by suitable infrastructure, training, and supporting policies to enable long-term sustainability and equal access to services.

Telemedicine also known as telehealth, is a healthcare technology that uses communications and networks to deliver medical education, medical follow-up and monitoring, consultations, and other services such as diagnosis and treatment despite large geographic distances that were once thought to be a barrier between physicians and their patients (1). It has been recognized as a tool used by professionals and healthcare providers all over the world to exchange information about people's health status and provide a variety of clinical services, including the management of physician-patient meetings (2, 3), particularly in patients with cancer and those undergoing systematic anti-cancer treatment and experiencing distressing side effects and symptoms as a result of chemotherapy, radiotherapies, and targeted therapies (4). In this article, we primarily focused on the effects of mobile health technology (mHealth), which is recognized as an integrated application in telemedicine involving the use of mobile devices and handheld computers with internet access to manage medical care operations in managing medical data, analyzing medical-related data, and improving overall patient experience in female cervical cancer patients in terms of prevention, follow-up, and improving aspects of symptom control (5). These technologies include those utilized in the healthcare sector, including instruments, drugs, vaccinations, procedures, and systems, as well as computer-supported information systems. Women in low or middle-income countries typically present with advanced stages of cervical cancer as a result of a lack of screening, appropriate referral of women with cervical diseases, and HIV-HPV (human immunodeficiency virus-human papillomavirus) co-infection (6, 7). In light of this, healthcare professionals have begun to use smart applications to track cancer patients' symptoms, management, complications, and survival (8, 9), particularly in emergency situations (10). In turn, patients with cervical cancer tend to use this technology as an alternative practice, such as in face-to-face communication to obtain dietary information about the use of various drugs, improve drug compliance, strengthen pain management through video conferences or other internet applications, and screening as a preventive method, thereby improving their quality of life (11, 12). Advances in medical health technology, such as fast diagnosing, providing a feedback system to monitor health status, promoting healthy behavior and encouraging changes to dysfunctional behaviors, providing easy access to treatment and rehabilitation, receiving electronic prescriptions, or obtaining informed consent quickly, thereby reducing waiting times, have been discovered to have enormous potential for improving health care quality, particularly for dually diagnosed patients (13, 14, 15).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on primary care practice cancer screening, as many centers have reduced access to routine visits in order to avoid crowded waiting rooms and, in particular, to reduce the infection risk for oncologic patients (16). As a result, many positive cases of cervical cancer were registered and many were potentially missed, and patients newly diagnosed with the disease were frequently found to be in more advanced stages as a result of women's limited access to essential and non-invasive investigations for cervical cancer diagnosis, as well as pandemic conditions making cancer care more difficult to access (17). As a result, mHealth was considered a new strategy adopted for routine surveillance both during and after pandemics due to the wide range of services and opportunities it provides to patients, such as sharing medical information, welcoming patients and discussing their symptoms, learning about treatment options, acquiring medical images, interacting with teams, enabling phone and video appointments, prevention, follow up, and most importantly (18, 19). However, despite its potential benefits, mHealth has a number of drawbacks, particularly in low-income countries, such as misdiagnosis, incorrect clinical decision-making, insufficient or inefficient medicines, financial issues, and wide disparities and inequalities within the population itself (20).

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer and the fourth leading cause of death from cancer in women. In contrast to developed countries, it is a leading cause of mortality in women in low to middle-income countries due to a lack of regular cervical screening programs (21). One of the main causes of female cervical cancer is the human papillomavirus. Oral contraceptives, decreased immunity, smoking and alcoholism, beginning sex at a young age, and having multiple sexual partners are additional risk factors. Genetic predisposition plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of cervical cancers. The HPV testing for cervical screening is typically followed by a histopathological examination, which is frequently supplemented by radiological imaging (22). Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy are among the treatment options. Most cases may be asymptomatic at first, but later symptoms may include abnormal pain and vaginal bleeding, which is frequently exacerbated by sexual intercourse (21). Mobile health technology, a subset of eHealth, is the use of mobile technologies for health promotion and illness management (23). mHealth has provided women with early warning symptoms and indicators, as well as greater awareness about numerous risk factors, HPV vaccination, and treatment options. Furthermore, learning about health-promoting knowledge may inspire people to implement recommended, scientifically supported behavioral adjustments, such as screening, which will reduce cancer-related morbidity and death (24, 25). However, the goal of the article is to explore the efficacy of mobile health interventions in raising cervical cancer prevention, screening awareness, intention, and uptake, particularly in low and middle income countries. As a result, this article has been presented in a narrative form to explain the function of mHealth in cervical cancer screening in low and middle-income countries.

Cervical cancer is a major public health problem, and mobile health (mHealth) initiatives have emerged as viable strategies for increasing screening rates and preventing cervical cancer. Several research has been conducted to investigate the efficiency of various mHealth tactics in boosting the adoption of cervical cancer screening by detecting cervical cancer precursors as well as preventing it by detecting early symptoms, thereby lowering cancer incidence and mortality (26).

Health technologies provide novel screening procedures that can improve the accuracy and efficiency of cervical cancer screening in low- and middle-income countries. Point-of-care testing equipment and portable colposcopes, for example, can give real-time data and visual evaluation of the cervix, allowing for prompt diagnosis and appropriate referral for further therapy (27). The traditional screening method, the Pap smear, is well-known in high-income countries; however, in low- and middle-income countries, this approach is limited due to a lack of financial resources (28). As a result, the VIA (visual inspection of acetic acid) screening method is widely used in low and middle-income countries because it is inexpensive and uses few resources (29). VIA is an alternative screening procedure to cystoscopy and is placed in the field of Gynocular (mobile colposcope and microendoscope) which is a portable low costlow-cost colposcope that is comparable in efficacy to the standard colposcope and part of telemedicine (30). The cervix is treated with 4 to 5

Cervical cancer is viewed as extremely unexpected since most women in low- and middle-income nations are uninformed about the disease's mortality and morbidity statistics, as well as its etiology and prevention. Cervical cancer may only be avoided and conquered with adequate awareness and health consciousness. There is a rising interest in recognizing the relevance of understanding the pathophysiology of cervical cancer and its prevention. mHealth technology is recognized as a very promising and valid technique for boosting awareness and decreasing the overall incidence of cervical cancer in women. This requirement has been adequately illustrated in various papers connected to global oncology. By providing individuals with timely and individualized information, the introduction of mHealth applications and tactics has the potential to favorably benefit cervical cancer prevention efforts. These initiatives can assist in raising awareness about the necessity of screening, encourage regular screenings, and boost cervical cancer discovery early.  mHealth treatments can overcome constraints such as lack of knowledge, restricted access to healthcare institutions, and transportation challenges by leveraging mobile technology, particularly in impoverished communities.

Furthermore, mHealth programs have shown efficacy in enhancing cervical cancer preventive awareness among women, particularly those from low-socioeconomic-status social support groups. These interventions have the potential to empower women by providing accurate and easily available information on cervical cancer prevention, risk factors, and screening procedures.  mHealth initiatives promote informed decision-making and proactive participation in preventative actions by enhancing information and awareness.

Funding: Not applicable 

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. 

Ethics approval: Not applicable 

Consent to participate: Not applicable 

Consent for publication: Not applicable 

Availability of data and material (data transparency): All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article or in the data repositories listed in References.

Code availability: Not applicable

The authors thank Professor Ian. Olver (Australia), who had supervised us and reviewed our article and gave us his valuable comments.