Cervical Cancer Awareness and Detection of Precancerous Lesions at Two District Health Centres in the West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

Background: Due to the late diagnosis, resulting partly from the absence of national screening programs, Cervical cancer is a public health concern for women in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 34 over 100,000 are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 23 over 100,000 die yearly. We evaluated the knowledge and practices of the female population towards the prevention of cervical cancer in the city of Bafoussam, West Cameroon, considering that poor awareness about the disease and its prevention drives its progression in Africa.Methods: 228 women were recruited during a cross-sectional study with simple random selection of participants in two District Health Centres in Bafoussam from February to August 2017. They were administered a questionnaire aimed at asserting their knowledge about cervical cancer, risk factors and prevention. Subsequently, cervicovaginal smears were screened and gynaecological signs were assessed. Data analysis was done using Epi info version 7.2.2.6. with Chi 2 test application.Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: The most represented age group was [25-35] (50.88%). Only 89 participants (39.04%) had heard about cervical cancer, 63 (27.63%) had heard about risk factors with only 13 (5.70%) able to name at least one risk factor. Moreover, 72 participants (31.58%) had heard about cervical screening test, 48 (21.05%) were aware about the existence of means of prevention, and only 6 (2.63%) had heard about human papillomavirus (HPV) relationship to cervical cancer or HPV vaccine. An incidence of 07.63% was obtained. The most common reason reported for not attending cervical cancer screening was ignorance (68.92%). Conclusions: Our data suggest that there is a real need for raising the awareness about cervical cancer and its prevention in the western region of Cameroon.