Abstract
Breast cancer has become a real public health problem in Cameroon, particularly in rural areas due to late diagnosis, resulting partly from the absence of national screening programs. This work is aimed at assessing breast cancer awareness in the North Region of Cameroon. Participants were selected in six health centers surrounding the rural area of Garoua, North Region, Cameroon, and administered a questionnaire aimed at assessing their awareness about breast cancer risk factors and screening. Out of the 475 women (including 37 medical personnel) interviewed, 45.5% attended at least secondary school; 91.3% were aware of the disease with the main sources of information from those around them (64.8%), media (46.5%), and health professionals in health facilities (42.7%). 23.3% had misconceptions and myth-based ideas on the origin of the disease. Ignorance was the main reason preventing the performance of breast self-examination, and the high cost prevents individuals from going for mammography. The highest awareness rate was observed in employed women with higher level of education. Our study highlights the need to raise awareness among the populations in North Region, Cameroon, about the risk factors and clinical signs of breast cancer and the importance of screening practice for early diagnosis of breast cancer.
Highlights
Breast cancer is a major public health challenge worldwide, as it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, in developing countries [1, 2]
2.1 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in
In Cameroon, the situation is becoming alarming as breast cancer-related mortality rate displayed an increase of
Summary
Breast cancer is a major public health challenge worldwide, as it is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, in developing countries [1, 2]. 2018, and 626,679 breasts cancer-related deaths were reported. These represented an increase rate of 19% in the incidence and 17% in the mortality rates as compared to [1, 3,4,5]. In Cameroon, the situation is becoming alarming as breast cancer-related mortality rate displayed an increase of. 3,273 new cases were diagnosed and 1,780 women died of breast cancer in 2018, ranking it the cancer with the highest incidence and highest death toll in Cameroon [1, 6]. Alarming is the fact that the number of women younger than 35 diagnosed with severe highgrade breast cancer has been increasing [7,8,9]. The five-year median survival rate is 22%, and most patients die within months after diagnosis [10,11,12,13]
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