Objective

To describe how demographic characteristics and knowledge of cervical cancer influence screening acceptance among women living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Methods

Multistage cluster sampling was carried out in 45 randomly selected streets in Dar es Salaam. Women between the ages of 25–59 who lived in the sampled streets were invited to a cervical cancer screening; 804 women accepted and 313 rejected the invitation. Information on demographic characteristics and knowledge of cervical cancer were obtained through structured questionnaire interviews.

Results

Women aged 35–44 and women aged 45–59 had increased ORs of 3.52 and 7.09, respectively, for accepting screening. Increased accepting rates were also found among single women (OR 2.43) and among women who had attended primary or secondary school (ORs of 1.81 and 1.94). Women who had 0–2 children were also more prone to accept screening in comparison with women who had five or more children (OR 3.21). Finally, knowledge of cervical cancer and awareness of the existing screening program were also associated with increased acceptance rates (ORs of 5.90 and 4.20).

Conclusion

There are identifiable subgroups where cervical cancer screening can be increased in Dar es Salaam. Special attention should be paid to women of low education and women of high parity. In addition, knowledge and awareness raising campaigns that goes hand in hand with culturally acceptable screening services will likely lead to an increased uptake of cervical cancer screening.

Background

Tanzania is among the countries in the world where the cervical cancer incidence is estimated to be highest. Acknowledging an increase in the burden of cervical cancer, VIA was implemented as a regional cervical cancer screening strategy in Tanzania in 2002. With the aim of describing risk factors for VIA positivity and determinants of screening attendances in Tanzania, this paper present the results from a comparative analysis performed among women who are reached and not reached by the screening program”.

Methods

14 107 women aged 25–59 enrolled in a cervical cancer screening program in Dar es Salaam in the period 2002 – 2008. The women underwent VIA examination and took part in a structured questionnaire interview. Socioeconomic characteristics, sexual behavior, HIV status and high-risk (HR) HPV infection were determined in a subpopulation of 890 who participated and 845 who did not participate in the screening.

Results

Being widowed/separated OR=1.41 (95% CI: 1.17-1.66), of high parity OR=3.19 (95% CI: 1.84-5.48) of low education OR= 4.30 (95% CI: 3.50-5.31) and married at a young age OR=2.17 (95% CI: 1.37-3.07) were associated with being VIA positive. Women who participated in the screening were more likely to be HIV positive OR= 1.59 (95% CI. 1.14-2.25) in comparison with women who had never attended screening, while no difference was found in the prevalence of HR-HPV infection among women who had attended screening and women who had not attended screening.

Conclusion

Women who are widowed/separated, of high parity, of low education and married at a young age are more likely to be VIA positive and thus at risk of developing cervical cancer. The study further documents that a referral linkage between the HIV care and treatment program and the cervical cancer screening program is in place in the setting studied, where HIV positive were more likely to participate in the cervical cancer screening program than HIV negative women.

The Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Tanzania sees about 3,000 new cancer patients annually, 47% of whom have advanced cervical cancer. We interviewed 98 women from the screening clinic and 49 women from the new cancer treatment clinic about their education, income, occupation, residence, medical history, and knowledge about cancer. Women in the screening clinic had higher socioeconomic levels, as shown by more education and employment than women in the new-patient clinic. Patients from the screening clinic were also younger, lived in near ORCI, and had better knowledge of cancer than women from the new-patient treatment clinic. Educational programs focused on the importance of cervical screening in rural remote areas of Tanzania may have a positive impact on the early detection and identification of patients at early disease stages.

Background

Cancer of the cervix is the second commonest malignancy in females worldwide and is the leading malignancy among women in Tanzania. Cancer of the cervix has been strongly associated with Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) which is a sexually transmitted disease. However, the role of HIV-1 in the aetiology of cancer of the cervix is less clear. Studies suggest that HPV and HIV-1 infection are synergistic and therefore their dual occurrence may fuel increased incidence of cancer of the cervix and AIDS. We therefore conducted a study to determine the association between cancer of the cervix and HIV-1.

Methods

The study was carried out in Ocean Road Cancer Institute, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania between January and March 2007. A hospital-based case control design was used to study 138 cases and 138 controls. The cases were consenting women 18 years and above with histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, while the controls were consenting non-cancer adult women attendants or visitors. The participants were counselled and tested for HIV-1 and interviewed to assess risk factors for cancer of the cervix and HIV-1. Estimation of risk was done by computing odds ratios and confidence intervals. Confounding and interaction between the factors were assessed using logistic regression.

Results

HIV-1 prevalence was much higher among the cases (21.0%) than among the controls (11.6%). In logistic regression, HIV-1 was associated with cancer of the cervix (OR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.4–5.9). Among the cases the mean age was lower for HIV-1 infected (44.3 years) than HIV-1 uninfected women (54 years, p = 0.0001).

Conclusion

HIV-1 infection is associated with invasive cancer of the cervix. Resource-constrained countries with a high burden of HIV-1 and cervical cancer should adopt a high-risk approach that targets HIV-1 positive women for screening of cervical cancer initially by utilizing HIV/AIDS resources.

Each year about 0.5% of the total population in Botswana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe die from HIV/AIDS or cancer. The members of a WHO project to improve palliative care in these countries discuss their work. The greatest needs of terminally ill patients were for adequate pain relief, accessible and affordable drugs, and financial support to counter the loss of income of both patient and family caregiver. Special emphasis should be given to home based palliative care provided by trained family and community caregivers to counteract the severe shortage of professional healthcare workers