UPTAKE OF CERVICAL AND BREAST CANCER SERVICES IN NIGERIA: IMPACT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATORS

What is it about?

It is a 'before and after' real-time population study that examined use of the health workers trained to become community health educators and the impact of their training on uptake of breast and cervical cancer screening services within rural communities in South-East Nigeria. The skills these CHEs acquired include skills for cervical and breast cancer prevention education, visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA), visual inspection of the cervix with Lugol’s iodine (VILI), HPV vaccination, cervical cryotherapy, and clinical breast examination (CBE).The trained workers were deployed to the field to conduct house-to-house as well as face-to-face education of women on cervical and breast cancer prevention. This intervention of home-delivered cervical and breast cancer prevention education was found to significantly increase the awareness and voluntary uptake of cervical and breast cancer prevention services by local/rural women in four communities in South-East Nigeria.

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Why is it important?

There is currently a low level of awareness of cervical and breast cancer prevention by the population. Once awareness is increased, compliance with uptake of allied services will ensure that breast and cervical cancers are detected at very early stages, thus reducing the high mortality that results from late presentation of these disease. It will also help to ensure that patients begin their treatments on time, right after diagnosis.

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