Women’s cancers in Sudan with a focus on cervical cancer: turmoil, geopolitics and opportunities

Husain, Nazik Elmalaika; Burhan, Amira; Ahmed, Iman A I; Mohammed, Sulma I.; Hammad, Nazik

doi:10.3332/ecancer.2022.1433

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“… 15-17 While cancer control programs typically aim for a patient delay of 30 or 14 days, 13 , 18 the absence of a national breast cancer screening program in Sudan makes achieving this goal challenging. 19 The frequently reported reasons for patients delay in this study were underestimating breast symptoms, lacking awareness about breast cancer and misinterpreting symptoms. Similar reasons were reported in LMICs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…18 several factors contributed to these delays, including fear of cancer treatment, financial challenges, delays in receiving biopsy results and the social stigma associated with cancer diagnosis. Furthermore, limited access to mammography and image-guided biopsy is pose a barrier to early diagnosis in Sudan 19 . Misinterpretation of symptoms and misdiagnosis by doctors were also significant factors leading to prolonged intervals in Africa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Delays in presentation, diagnosis, and treatment in Sudanese women with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study

Alfadul,

Tebaig,

Alrawa

et al. 2024

The Oncologist

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Background The poor prognosis of breast cancer in Sudan could be due to delayed treatment and diagnosis at an advanced stage. Our study aimed to assess the extent of delays from onset of symptoms to treatment in Sudanese women with breast cancer, as well as identify factors contributing to these delays. Materials and Methods We conducted a multi-center cross sectional study between March and April 2023. Data were collected from the medical records and interviews with women with breast cancer in the two main oncology centers in Sudan. Linear regression was used to identify the predictors of delayed presentation. Results We interviewed 601 women with breast cancer. The majority of women (50.1%) were diagnosed at locally advanced or metastatic disease. The median interval from the onset of symptoms to receiving oncologic treatment was 221 days (IQR = 92, 496). The longest delay was the presentation delay 61 (31 244) days. The median duration for diagnosis delay and treatment delay was 21 (10.57) days and 27 (10.64) days, respectively. Predictors of early presentation included, being young (β = −5.3; 95% CI = 0.06 to 10), married (β = −264; 95% CI = −427 to −101), divorced (β = −306; 95% CI = −549 to −63), or widowed (β = −320; 95% CI = −-543 to −97), urban residence (β = −107; 95% CI = −213 to −2.3), and seeking traditional healer (β = −204; 95% CI = −383 to −26). Conclusion Most Sudanese women with breast cancer experience significant patient delays, often presenting at advanced stages. Factors like being single, older, and living in rural areas contribute to these delays. Increasing breast cancer education, improving healthcare access and addressing sociodemographic barriers can potentially expedite diagnosis and improve outcomes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delays in presentation, diagnosis, and treatment in Sudanese women with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study

Alfadul,

Tebaig,

Alrawa

et al. 2024

The Oncologist

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“…The screening processes involves the use of different screening imaging tools chosen dependently according to the abnormal findings. These procedures even should available to asymptomatic individuals to help them in detecting and treatment of tumors before they in risk danger to their health, based on the Globocan 2020, 41.2 out of 100,000 Sudanese females agestandardized were infected by breast cancer comparing to cervix and ovarian cancer (8.7 and 6.7. respectively) [7] . For these reasons, this population-based study was intended to increase public awareness and improve knowledge of breast cancer diagnosis among Sudanese women.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Despite their good knowledge level, they justified their lack of experience through the following reasons: 59.5% did not have lump or pain, 14.19% were afraid of the results and 11.49% were ashamed or afraid to perform it. A popular explanation of these findings has been illustrated by Altirifi, H.I., et al 2022 [18] who showed that Sudanese women's unwillingness to undergo breast screening is due to the non-adequate quality improvement of health care authorities and the expansive of these procedure in our developing country and by Husain Elmalaika, et al 2022 [7] who stated that Sudan has essentially no programmers for cancer prevention, screening, or early detection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge and Awareness of Sudanese Women toward Breast Cancer Detection

Alamin¹,

Adil²,

Faiz³

et al. 2023

J. Sci. Innov. Res.

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Background: The most frequent cancer in women is breast cancer (BC), which unfortunately has high mortality in Sudan whereas most of the patients are diagnosed at late stages of this disease sequence either due to a lack of awareness or unavailability of screening programs. objective: to asses of the knowledge and awareness of breast cancer detection among Sudanese women 2022 - 2023. Material and Methods: a community representative descriptive cross-sectional study of women aged 17 to 70 years in different Sudanese provinces was included using a semi-structural interview questionnaire. Results: out of 200 participants, the mean age was 39.8 (±12.13) years and the majority of them were aged between 41 and 50 years 54 (27%). 120 (60%) had no prior experience with breast cancer at all and 73 (36.5%) had never heard of breast self-examination for BC. The study resulted that the dominant of interviewed women 181 (90.5%) had a good awareness of breast cancer, and 161 (80.5%) believed that breast screening must require for the early detection of breast tumors. Breast changes, discharge, and lump pain were the most common prevalent reasons for breast screening in this study 95 (38.7%), 46 (18.7%), and 45 (18.3). It was clear that education level has a significant effect on the level of knowledge of breast cancer and its diagnostic screening tools among participants, with graduated women having adequate knowledge in comparison to those not graduated women 92 (50.5%) and 89 (49.2%) (p-value = 0.004 < 0.05). As well, the central resident participants had good knowledge about breast cancer 112 (70 %) in comparison with other residents. Conclusion: awareness and knowledge of BC detection increase with increasing educational levels and central urban living, there is an urgent need for intensive breast cancer awareness programs and the availability of screening centers authorities in Sudanese periphery areas.

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“…However, most of them failed due to the scarcity of well-trained cytologists and cytopathologists. 14 , 15 Also, religious beliefs and behavioural aspects of conducting the diagnosis make it difficult to rely on it in cases of screening of ordinary checkups. 16 CC screening is not currently available through the public health system in Sudan.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention among women in Khartoum state, Sudan

Siddig

Ahmed

et al. 2023

Womens Health (Lond Engl)

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Background: Cervical cancer is considered the third leading cause of death among women worldwide, and human papillomavirus was identified as a major causative agent for developing cervical cancer. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention among women in Khartoum state, Sudan. Design: A community-based cross-sectional study implemented in Khartoum state, Sudan, from 1 August 2020 to 1 September 2020. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional community-based study using an electronic questionnaire for data collection. Descriptive statistics, frequency, mean, and percentage were computed. Results: The study included 716 female participants with a mean age of 27.6 + 8.7 years. 580 (81.0%) and 229 (32.0%) had heard about cervical cancer and Pap test, respectively. cervical cancer was assumed related to alcohol consumption 109 (15.2%), giving birth to many children 51 (7.1%), ageing 118 (16.5%), and having many sexual partners 335 (46.8%). In addition, 300 (41.9%) attributed cervical cancer to having human papillomavirus infection, 256 (35.6%) to the prolonged use of contraceptives, and 162 (22.6%) to smoking. Knowledge about the best time to be vaccinated against human papillomavirus, 110 (15.4%) stated it is better after marriage. Regression models to predict the effectors on participants’ knowledge and attitudes showed a low standard deviation of the estimates with higher values of the adjusted R2 [R: 0.041, 0.017, and 0.006; std: 1.527, 0.417, and 0.426]. This indicates the combined influence of occupation, educational level, family income, and marital status on the participant’s knowledge and attitude levels. Conclusion: This study revealed that the participant’s knowledge and attitudes levels are mainly driven by their occupation, educational level, family income, and marital status altogether. This underscores the need for a countrywide community engagement campaign through health education and raising awareness sessions, and massive social media to sensitize the community and healthcare providers about the risk of cervical cancer and the available prevention and control measures.

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Women’s cancers in Sudan with a focus on cervical cancer: turmoil, geopolitics and opportunities

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

Delays in presentation, diagnosis, and treatment in Sudanese women with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study

Delays in presentation, diagnosis, and treatment in Sudanese women with breast cancer: a cross-sectional study

Knowledge and Awareness of Sudanese Women toward Breast Cancer Detection

Knowledge and attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention among women in Khartoum state, Sudan

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