A population‐based combination strategy to improve the cervical cancer screening coverage rate in Bamako, Mali
2021
Introduction Cervical cancer screening coverage rate is less than 5% in Sub-Saharan Africa and less than 2% in French speaking African countries. In 2016, we implemented strategies to improve cervical cancer screening in Bamako, named "Weekend70 program". The present study objectives are to: 1) determine the effect of this program on women's participation in cervical cancer screening in Bamako; and 2) estimate the cervical cancer screening coverage rate in Bamako. Material and methods From January 1st , 2016 to July 31st , 2020, we conducted an operational research by developing several strategies to improve the cervical cancer screening coverage rate among adolescents and women ≥ 15 years old in Bamako, Mali. The strategies consisted of awareness raising activities, strengthening of screening practices in healthcare facilities and cost-free cervical cancer screening during the weekend. Descriptive statistics were presented. The cervical cancer coverage rate was calculated by dividing the number of women screened by the total number of women ≥ 20 years old, based on Mali demographic data. Results The total number of women screened was 289,924. Residents from Bamako represented 91.9% (266,436/289,924) versus 8.1% (23,488/289,924) lived outside Bamako. The mean age was 33.2 (± 11.5) years old. Around 46.1% of participants attending the cervical cancer screening were between 30 to 49 years old (World Health Organization (WHO) prioritized target age for cervical cancer screening), while women ≥ 60 years old represented less than 5%. Cervical cancer screening participation increased significantly passing from under 800 women screened per week before the implementation of the program to a peak of 4,100 women screened per week during the "Weekend70 program". Overall, the cervical cancer screening coverage rates among women ≥ 20 years old was 47.3% and 56.9% in the WHO target population at the end of the study. Conclusions In an impoverished context, a multi-component strategy significantly increases cervical cancer screening participation.
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