Awareness of HPV and cervical cancer prevention among Cameroonian healthcare workers

Catherine Mccarey,Pierre Marie Tebeu,David Pirek,Anderson Sama Doh,Patrick Petignat,Michel Boulvain

doi:10.1186/1472-6874-11-45

Catherine Mccarey, Pierre Marie Tebeu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-11-45

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Abstract

BackgroundCervical cancer, although largely preventable, remains the most common cause of cancer mortality among women in low-resource countries.The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer prevention among Cameroonian healthcare workers.MethodsA cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire in 5 parts with 46 items regarding cervical cancer etiology and prevention was addressed to healthcare workers in six hospitals of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The investigators enlisted heads of nursing and midwifery to distribute questionnaires to their staff, recruited doctors individually, in hospitals and during conferences and distributed questionnaires to students in Yaoundé University Hospital and Medical School. Eight hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed, 401 collected. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16.0. Chi-square tests were used and P-values < 0.05 were considered significant.ResultsMean age of respondents was 38 years (range 20-71 years). Most participants were aware that cervical cancer is a major public health concern (86%), were able to identify the most important etiological factors (58%) and believed that screening may prevent cervical cancer (90%) and may be performed by Pap test (84%). However, less than half considered VIA or HPV tests screening tests (38 and 47%, respectively). Knowledge about cancer etiology and screening was lowest among nurse/midwives.ConclusionKnowledge of cervical cancer and prevention by screening showed several gaps and important misconceptions regarding screening methods.Creating awareness among healthcare workers on risk factors and current methods for cervical cancer screening is a necessary step towards implementing effective prevention programs.

Highlights

Cervical cancer, largely preventable, remains the most common cause of cancer mortality among women in low-resource countries
We found the level of knowledge in our study sample to be comparable to studies of similar populations in other developing countries
Among the stronger points of this study, it should be noted that this is the first study performed in Cameroon assessing knowledge of cervical cancer screening among healthcare workers, with a sample sufficiently large to draw significant conclusions and provide useful pointers for planning medical education for healthcare workers

Summary

Introduction

Largely preventable, remains the most common cause of cancer mortality among women in low-resource countries. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer prevention among Cameroonian healthcare workers. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women, after breast cancer. 500 000 new cases are diagnosed and 270 000 women die of this disease, mostly (85%) in developing countries [1]. The world pattern of cervical cancer indicates that this is predominantly a problem of low resource setting countries. The main reason is limited access to screening and treatment facilities [2]. Countries that have organized screening programs have substantially reduced cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Screening programs have the potential to be effective because cervical cancer is

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