Awareness of HPV and cervical cancer prevention among Cameroonian healthcare workers

BACKGROUND: Cervical 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.

METHODS: A 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.

RESULTS: Mean 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.

CONCLUSION: Knowledge 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.