TITLE:
Pap Smear Screening, the Way Forward for Prevention of Cervical Cancer? A Community Based Study in the Buea Health District, Cameroon
AUTHORS:
Gregory Edie Halle Ekane, Thomas Egbe Obinchemti, Charlotte Tchuente Nguefack, Desmond Molar Nkambfu, Robert Tchounzou, Dickson Nsagha, Georges Mangala Nkwele, George Enow Orock
KEYWORDS:
Cervical Cancer, Pap Smear, Knowledge, Attitude, Buea
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.5 No.4,
April
21,
2015
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Cancer of the cervix is
the second most common gynecologic malignancy in the world due to lack of
awareness and poor uptake of cervical cancer screening services especially in
low income countries. In Cameroon, though there is a national cervical
cancer-screening program the service has been limited to some main cities
without an appreciable impact. Aims: The objectives of this study were to
determine the knowledge, attitude, practice towards Pap smear screening, thus
evaluating its suitability as a screening procedure in Cameroon, through this
pilot study in the Buea Health District. Methods: The study was a
community-based cross-sectional descriptive survey that involved 309 women.
Women from 18 years were enrolled for the study from 9thOctober to 20thNovember 2013. Results: The mean age
of the participants was 32.3 years (SD = 11.7 years). Most of the women (29.5%)
who had gone for the Pap test were in the 41 - 50 years age group. Only 3.6% of
the study participants had “good” knowledge of cervical cancer and Pap smear
screening. Approximately 20% of the women had a previous Pap smear test with
55.7% of them having the test just once. Eighty two percent of those who had
secondary and tertiary levels of education had never had a Pap smear test.
Awareness of risk factors for cervical cancer was low. Fear of pain, positive
results after screening, non-curability of cervical cancer were some factors
associated with a low Pap test uptake (p