Objective  To analyze current situation of cervical and breast cancer screening service among rural women and conditions of the medical institutions and staff providing the service in China and to provide references for implementing cervical and breast cancer screening programs.

  Methods  We conducted a survey on staff composition of 123 medical institutions randomly selected in 19 counties of 12 provinces across China and cervical and breast cancer screening services provided by the institutions among rural women between 2014 and 2015. A self-designed questionnaire was used in the study.

  Results  The cervical and breast cancer screening services provided by the medical institutions to the rural women were as following: physical examination and color Doppler ultrasonography of breast, colposcopy, liquid-based/ thin layer cytology test, visual inspection with acetic acid/Lugol′s iodine (VIA/VILI), classification /diagnosis of cervical cytology with the Bethesda system (TBS), pathological examination, mammogram, and human papillomavirus detection. During the period, the county-level medical institutions implemented much more cervical and breast cancer screening services to the rural women than the township-level institutions; the medical institutions in eastern and central regions of China implemented more gynecologic examinations, cervix secretion and cervical wecretion examination, cervical cytology TBS diagnosis, colposcopy, and breast physical examination than the institutions in western regions of China. In eastern regions of China, the majority (63.7%) of the personnel engaged in cervical and breast cancer screening programs were the employees of county-level medical institutions; while in central and western regions, the majorities (70.0% and 77.1%) were the employees of township-level institutions. For the screening program-relevant personnel from county-level medical institutions, 30.8% had intermediate professional title; but for the personnel from township-level institutions, 43.1% had primary title; whereas, for the personnel in eastern regions, 27.1% had intermediate professional title; for those in central and western regions, 41.4% and 54.6% had primary title.

  Conclusion  The procedures for cervical and breast cancer screening in the programs covered regions were in line with the national requirements. But the service capacity was not balanced among the responsible institutions at different administration level or in different regions and the service capacity of grassroots personnel needs to be improved.