Knowledge and practices of general practitioners at district hospitals towards cervical cancer prevention in Burundi, 2015: a cross-sectional study

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

Well-organized screening and treatment programmes are effective to prevent Invasive Cervical Cancer (ICC) in LMICs. To achieve this, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the involvement of existing health personnel in casu doctors, nurses, midwives in ICC prevention. A necessary precondition is that health personnel have appropriate knowledge about ICC. Therefore, to inform policy makers and training institutions in Burundi, we documented the knowledge and practices of general practitioners (GPs) at district hospital level towards ICC control.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to April, 2015 among all GPs working in government district hospitals. A structured questionnaire and a scoring system were used to assess knowledge and practices of GPs.

Results

The participation rate was 58.2%. Majority of GPs (76.3%) had appropriate knowledge (score > 70%) on cervical cancer disease; but some risk factors were less well known as smoking and the 2 most important oncogenic HPV. Only 8.4% of the participants had appropriate knowledge on ICC prevention: 55% of the participants were aware that HPV vaccination exists and 48.1% knew cryotherapy as a treatment method for CIN. Further, 15.3% was aware of VIA as a screening method. The majority of the participants (87%) never or rarely propose screening tests to their clients. Only 2 participants (1.5%) have already performed VIA/VILI. Wrong thoughts were also reported: 39.7% thought that CIN could be treated with radiotherapy; 3.1% thought that X-ray is a screening method.

Conclusion

In this comprehensive assessment, we observed that Burundian GPs have a very low knowledge level about ICC prevention, screening and treatment. Suboptimal practices and wrong thoughts related to ICC screening and treatments have also been documented. We therefore recommend an adequate pre- and in-service training of GPs and most probably nurses on ICC control before setting up any public health intervention on ICC control.

Related collections

Most cited references 13

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Screening for cancer in low- and middle-income countries.

R. Sankaranarayanan (2025)

Screening programs involve testing asymptomatic individuals with an accurate screening test to identify those likely to have the disease of interest and to further investigate them to confirm or exclude the disease. The aim of cancer screening is to prevent cancer deaths and improve quality of life by finding cancers early and by effectively treating them. A decision to introduce a screening program in public health services depends on the evidence that the benefits outweigh the harms of screening, disease burden, availability of suitable screening test, effective treatment, adequate resources, and efficient health services. Screening programs should achieve high participation for testing, diagnosis, and treatment to be effective and efficient.

0 comments Cited 120 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Challenges in Prevention and Care Delivery for Women with Cervical Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa

Thomas C. Randall, Rahel G Ghebre (2016)

Virtually all cases of invasive cervical cancer are associated with infection by high-risk strains of human papilloma virus. Effective primary and secondary prevention programs, as well as effective treatment for early-stage invasive cancer have dramatically reduced the burden of cervical cancer in high-income countries; 85% of the mortality from cervical cancer now occurs in low- and middle-income countries. This article provides an overview of challenges to cervical cancer care in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and identifies areas for programmatic development to meet the global development goal to reduce cancer-related mortality. Advanced stage at presentation and gaps in prevention, screening, diagnostic, and treatment capacities contribute to reduced cervical cancer survival. Cost-effective cervical cancer screening strategies implemented in low resource settings can reduce cervical cancer mortality. Patient- and system-based barriers need to be addressed as part of any cervical cancer control program. Limited human capacity and infrastructure in SSA are major barriers to comprehensive cervical cancer care. Management of early-stage, locally advanced or metastatic cervical cancer involves multispecialty care, including gynecology oncology, medical oncology, radiology, pathology, radiation oncology, and palliative care. Investment in cervical cancer care programs in low- and middle-income countries will need to include effective recruitment programs to engage women in the community to access cancer screening and diagnosis services. Though cervical cancer is a preventable and treatable cancer, the challenges to cervical control in SSA are great and will require a broadly integrated and sustained effort by multiple stakeholders before meaningful progress can be achieved.

0 comments Cited 73 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Oncologic Care and Pathology Resources in Africa: Survey and Recommendations.

Ann M Nelson, Danny A Milner, Timothy R Rebbeck … (2016)

The connection of a clinician who identifies a patient with signs and symptoms of malignancy to an oncologist who has the tools to treat a patient's cancer requires a diagnostic pathology laboratory to receive, process, and diagnose the tumor. Without an accurate classification, nothing is known of diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment by the clinical team, and most important, the patient is left scared, confused, and without hope. The vast majority of deaths from malignancies occur in sub-Saharan Africa primarily as a result of lack of public awareness of cancer and how it is diagnosed and treated in the setting of a severe lack of resources (physical and personnel) to actually diagnose tumors. To correct this massive health disparity, a plan of action is required across the continent of Africa to bring diagnostic medicine into the modern era and connect patients with the care they desperately need. We performed a survey of resources in Africa for tissue diagnosis of cancer and asked quantitative questions about tools, personnel, and utilization. We identified a strong correlation between pathology staffing and capacity to provide pathology services. On the basis of this survey and through a congress of concerned pathologists, we propose strategies that will catapult the continent into an era of high-quality pathology services with resultant improvement in cancer outcomes.

0 comments Cited 51 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Zacharie Ndizeye:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3235-9494

ndizeyzacharie2007@yahoo.fr

Davy Vanden Broeck: davy.vandenbroeck@ugent.be

Heleen Vermandere: heleen.vermandere@ugent.be

John Paul Bogers: john-paul.bogers@uantwerpen.be

Jean-Pierre Van Geertruyden: jean-pierre.vangeertruyden@uantwerpen.be

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Global Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Global Health

Title: Globalization and Health

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1744-8603

Publication date (Electronic): 16 January 2018

Publication date PMC-release: 16 January 2018

Publication date Collection: 2018

Volume: 14

Electronic Location Identifier: 4

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0723 7738, GRID grid.7749.d, Faculty of Medicine, Community Medicine Department, , University of Burundi, ; Bujumbura, Burundi

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0790 3681, GRID grid.5284.b, Faculty of Medicine and health sciences, Global Health Institute, , University of Antwerp, ; Antwerp, Belgium

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2069 7798, GRID grid.5342.0, International Centre for Reproductive Health, , Ghent University, ; Ghent, Belgium

[4 ]Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, AML, Antwerp, Belgium

[5 ]ISNI 0000 0001 0790 3681, GRID grid.5284.b, AMBIOR, Laboratory for Cell Biology & Histology, , University of Antwerp, ; Antwerp, Belgium

Author information

Zacharie Ndizeye http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3235-9494

Article

Publisher ID: 321

DOI: 10.1186/s12992-018-0321-5

PMC ID: 5771039

PubMed ID: 29338741

SO-VID: 4ec0da6f-7964-40f7-a710-9d1d5f859980

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 2 November 2017

Date accepted : 5 January 2018

Funding

Funded by: VLIR-UOS/UB

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Health & Social care

Keywords: knowledge,practices,general practitioners,cervical cancer prevention

Data availability: