Background: Although cervical cancer is largely preventable, it continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Sudan, due to the lack of national control programs. This study aimed to evaluate the availability of cervical cancer prevention services and assess the facility readiness in Khartoum state, as a base for future plans.
Methods: This study was an observational, mixed-method, health service research. Purposive sampling method was used to select focal persons to explore the current situation and the available services qualitatively. Observation through standardized checklists of screening and colposcopy centers was conducted, and service providers were interviewed. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were used to analyze data.
Results: Based on the qualitative interviews, Khartoum Oncology Hospital is the only specialized center providing chemotherapy and radiotherapy services for the state. Although six screening and nine diagnostic centers were surveyed, services were not available in most localities. Reasonable but unutilized resources in the secondary level exist at the time of the study, primary-level efforts to control cervical cancer are uncoordinated and ineffective, with no linked efforts at the community level. Since initiatives to reduce cervical cancer mortality need to adopt a holistic approach to the disease continuum, a comprehensive model was suggested and explained, the gaps and challenges were discussed.
Conclusion: Cervical cancer prevention still remains a highly unaddressed need in Sudan. Sustainable financing of robust programs is necessary to achieve elimination. Contextually relevant devices must be selected to improve resource allocation. These results might be useful for the establishment of cervical cancer control in Sudan.
Keywords: cervical cancer, screening, health system, developing countries, Sudan
Background: Believing research prioritization can increase the research value and augment advances in the scientific base of any profession, this study aimed to identify research priorities relevant for medical education in Sudan.
Methods: The study was designed to capture a qualitative exploration of multiple stakeholders’ opinions. Data were collected from two stakeholder groups: experts and students of medical education in Sudan. Semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups from 10 experts and 41 learners were incorporated. The categories and subcategories, derived from experts’ data inductively through constant comparison, enhanced the development of a coding framework. This framework was used deductively to analyze the beliefs and opinions of the learners leading to a list that exemplifies priorities for medical education research.
Results: A set of seven principal and three minor themes were identified, the principal themes were: Curriculum Content, Design, and Delivery; Faculty Development; Assessment Methods; Research; Accreditation, Evaluation, and Quality; Professionalism; and Student Selection and Support. Four themes were identified to justify participants’ selections: Quality education and patient care; Accreditation of schools; Curricula contextualization; and Documentation of success stories.
Conclusion: This instrumental research fulfilled its aim to mount a set of medical education research priorities grounded in collected perceptions with optimal stakeholder engagement. Importantly, there were many more similarities than differences between these findings and those from other countries which suggests that some topics are relevant across the international arena and one may propose the commencements of an international medical education agenda.
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