Cervical cancer screen in Bamenda
The free cervical cancer and fibroid awareness screening campaign were organized by Value Health Africa in partnership with Bandy Kiki, ABII Foundation, Volunteer Medical Corp, Sisters Speak, Le Gideon’s Newspaper, FROG TUTORING, Mofor Violet, ACADI, CAN, under the patronage of the Delegate of Public Health North West Region. The campaign was observed under the theme; “CERVICAL CANCER CAN BE PREVENTED” while stressing on the need of early diagnosis. The campaign took two days from the 25th to 26th of April 2019. It was coordinated by a Public Health Nurse and VAHA’s sexual and reproductive health advocate and other VAHA team members.
ACTIVITIES
A radio campaign was made @CBS radio on 24th of April 2019 by VAHA team. The radio campaign focused on VAHA, Cervical Cancer and Fibroid, the agenda of the free screening and the various partners who contributed enormously to the success of the screening.
Day 1 (25th April 2019)
Amazingly, as early as 6:00 am on the 25th of April 2019, women from far and near started gathering at the screening ground (Former Le Bien Hotel Brasseries Bamenda). This was followed by registration of participants and filling of the questionnaire. The orientation of participants was done and a brief introduction and a rundown of the activities. Filling of the questionnaires continued while the presenters of the day were getting ready. Doctor Tebit Ignatius ( Obstetrician and gynecologist) gave the first talk which was focused on “the overview of daily realities on women’s health, laying emphasis on;
- uterine fibroid,
- risk factors and
- diagnosis and also highlighted on
- success stories from Abii foundation.
Day 2
Similar activities took place on day two, though with the introduction of new speakers. screening on the second day was much faster and convenient as there were two screening rooms. Chaplain Emmanuel took over three and a half hours discussing and imparting the women. He ended with a sweet and lovely song which awakened and energized everyone woman in the hall. Day 2 was rather more hectic than day 1 because everyone wanted to be screened especially as it was the last day of the screening campaign. There were two counselors who carried out Pre and Post counseling on all the women that were screened.
Day 3
After the campaign, the hall was cleaned, chairs and other rented items returned, questionnaires put together, and everything placed in their respective places and in order.
RESULTS
On day one, 39 women were screened and on day two, 78 were screened making a total of 117 even though 125 questionnaires were filled. The 8 women were not eligible for the screening. Out of 117 screened, 53% (62/117) of the participants attested to have a fair knowledge of cervical cancer. 29.9% (35/117) of them indicated that they have done at least one cervical cancer screening before. 18% (22/117) were shown to have inflamed cervix on visual inspection. 11.1% (13/117) had both inflamed cervix and positive VILI & VIA tests. Palpation revealed that 5.1% (6/117) had a lump around the abdominal region while breasts palpation revealed normal breasts for all the 117 women screened. Statistics still revealed that 0.008% (1/117) woman had a hemorrhagic inflamed cervix. 12.8% (15/117) had profuse vaginal discharge. The women were counseled and referred for specialized care.