Addressing missed opportunities for cervical cancer screening in Nigeria: a nursing workforce approach

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the commonest gynaecological cancer affecting women, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the availability of evidence on multiple prevention pathways, including vaccination and screening, the cervical cancer burden continues to increase, especially in LMICs. This disease typifies health inequality as more than 85% of related morbidity and mortality occur among women of low socio-economic status residing in developing countries. In Nigeria, cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. Sadly, Nigeria lacks a tailored cervical cancer control policy or population-based screening programme which is recommended. Consequently, existing screening services are opportunistic, sparsely distributed and have reached less than 9% of eligible Nigerian women. This article highlights the current status of cervical cancer screening in Nigeria, contextualises the role of female nurses and proffers novel approaches to address missed opportunities for screening by leveraging the nursing workforce.

Non-adherence to cervical cancer screening recommendations among women in Eswatini: a cross-sectional study

“…Opportunistic screening tends to be less efficient, contributes to health inequalities, and achieves lower coverage [ 45 ]. For example, in Nigeria, where opportunistic screening is being implemented [ 46 ], only 3% of eligible women had ever been screened [ 47 ]. In Eswatini, the coverage of screening is low, as less than half of primary healthcare clinics provide cervical cancer screening services [ 48 ].…”

Pursuance of a Yoruba name for cervical cancer in Southwest Nigeria: a case study

“… 3 Although the predisposing factors for cervical cancer like HIV, low socioeconomic class, early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners and multiparity 4 are also abundant in Africa, the structures for cervical cancer prevention are still very weak in many African countries. 5 6 Sub-Saharan Africa had the least number of women aged 30–45 years (median of 19.6%) who were screened for cervical cancer compared with other countries between 2005 and 2018. 7 Also, less than 30% of countries in this region have human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for adolescents with less than 3.0% of the eligible adolescents vaccinated in 2022.…”

“…The cancer also significantly stretches the already overburdened health system in developing countries, draining the scarce resources that are available 3. Although the predisposing factors for cervical cancer like HIV, low socioeconomic class, early sexual debut, multiple sexual partners and multiparity4 are also abundant in Africa, the structures for cervical cancer prevention are still very weak in many African countries 5 6. Sub-Saharan Africa had the least number of women aged 30–45 years (median of 19.6%) who were screened for cervical cancer compared with other countries between 2005 and 2018 7.…”

Knowledge and acceptability of cervical cancer screening among female undergraduates in Babcock University Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria

“…Despite the proven benefits of CC screening, Nigeria only has accidental and unevenly distributed CC screening services, reaching less than 9% of women needing the services [10,11]. In addition to Nigeria's weak health system and lack of cervical cancer control policy, previous studies have also recognised that lack of awareness, trivialisation of CC, poverty, a low number of female providers, concern for positive screening results and sociocultural norms contribute significantly to poor uptake of CCS services, HPV test and pap smear in Nigeria [12][13].…”