Abstract 90: Understanding the Self-Collection Preferences of Women Living in Rwanda

Abstract

Purpose: Cervical cancer is a leading cause of cancer death among women in low- and middle-income countries. Women in Rwanda have high rates of cervical cancer due to limited access to effective screening methods. Research in low-resource settings similar to Rwanda has shown that self-collection for cervical cancer screening is an effective method. This study aimed to compare the preferences of Rwandan women in urban and rural settings toward self-collection and to report on factors related to self-collection amenability. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June 1-9, 2022. Women were recruited from an urban and rural clinic in Rwanda. Women were eligible for the study if they were ≥ 18 years and spoke Kinyarwanda or English. The survey consisted of 51 questions investigating demographics and attitudes towards self-collection for cervical cancer screening. All results were stratified by clinic site. We performed descriptive statistics stratified by urban and rural sites. Results: In total, 374 Rwandan women completed the survey (urban n=169 and rural n=205). The mean age was 33.09 years for urban and 32.89 years for rural respondents. The majority of respondents at both sites had a primary school or less education and were in a relationship. Both urban and rural respondents were open to self-collection; however, rates were higher in the rural site (79.9% urban and 95.6% rural; p-value<0.001). Similarly, women in rural areas were more likely to report feeling unembarrassed about self-collection (65.3% of urban, 76.8% of rural; p-value<0.001). Both urban (87.6%) and rural (90.2%) respondents were similarly unafraid of social stigma around cervical cancer. Notably, almost all urban and rural respondents (97.6% urban and 98.5% rural) stated they would go for a cervical cancer pelvic examination to a nearby health center if their self-collected results indicated any concern (p-value=0.731). Conclusion: Rwandan women in both urban and rural areas largely support the implementation and integration of self-collection for cervical cancer screening. Further research is needed to better understand how to implement self-collection screening services. Expanding self-collection for cervical cancer screening in Rwanda will contribute the global elimination of cervical cancer. Citation Format: Varun Nair, Hallie Dau, Marianne Vidler, Maryam AboMoslim, Barbra Mutamba, Zoey Nesbitt, Nadia Mithani, Laurie Smith, Stephen Rulisa, Gina Ogilvie. Understanding the Self-Collection Preferences of Women Living in Rwanda [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Symposium on Global Cancer Research; Closing the Research-to-Implementation Gap; 2023 Apr 4-6. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 90.