A Bundled Primary and Secondary Cervical Cancer Prevention Project Commences in Cameroon
Stakeholders involved in Cancer Prevention have resolved in a planning meeting to work together to ensure the efficient implementation of a new project in 3 towns in the West, Center, and Littoral Regions of Cameroon. The 1-year project aimed at screening women for Cervical Cancer while vaccinating their children against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the principal cause of cervical cancer is being implemented in the urban slums of Bafoussam, Yaounde, and Douala.
The planning meeting on February 8, 2024, pulled participants from all key Health districts as well as officials of the National Cancer Control Program and the National Expanded Program for Immunization for a better understanding of the project and also their role and utmost contribution for the best outcome.
Representing the Director of CBC Health Services, Doctor Manga Simon, Deputy Director for Clinical Services who doubles as the project’s Principal Investigator, thanked them for their endless contributions in activities of the CBC Health Services to render quality health care to people in the community. Their collaboration with the CBC Health Services cannot be underestimated, he emphasized.
The main presentation at the meeting by Dr. Manga titled “From Mother-Daughter to Mother-Child Approach: A Bundled Cervical Cancer Primary and Secondary Prevention Strategy in Cameroon”, enlightened participants on the different approaches, regimens, and equipment progressively used in Cameroon to prevent, identify and treat cervical precancers.
Statistics for cervical cancer in Cameroon show that the disease contributed to 22.6% of all cancers affecting women in 2022. To curb this prevalence, Cameroon has to be involved in the WHO ambitious global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030 known as the 90-70-90 strategy. The strategy aims to vaccinate 90% of eligible girls, screen 70% of women with high-performant tests, and treat 90% of women with cervical diseases.
Progressive approaches in the country have always been informed by statistics of already deployed approaches to fight cervical cancer in Cameroon. The Ministry of Public Health through the Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI) in 2020 started a national roll out of HPV vaccination for 9-year-old girls. This met with a lot of vaccine hesitancy. The CBC Health Services piloted a mother-daughter approach (screening mothers for cervical cancer while vaccinating their daughters at the same time) in 2022 and had excellent results. A total of 3 girls were vaccinated for every 1 woman screened. This demonstrated that the mother-daughter approach is an excellent strategy to scale up HPV vaccination in Cameroon and to overcome vaccine hesitancy. January 2023 witnessed the approval of the single dose HPV vaccine and the vaccination of boys.
This 2024 project, is moving from the Mother-Daughter to a Mother-Child approach through the inclusion of boys in the mother-daughter strategy. The project sponsored by the US-based Prevent Cancer Foundation plans to screen 1,250 women from 30 to 65 years with HPV DNA and vaccinate 5,000 boys and girls aged 9 to 14 years within the slums of Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam.
According to the Executive Secretary of the National Cancer Control Program, Professor Nkegoum Blaise, the fight against cervical cancer in Cameroon has been ongoing for more than 30 years. He appreciates the availability of the HPV vaccine and the technology that has been used to detect the cause of cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine for children and screening for women as per WHO guideline is a novel and an excellent approach to fight cervical cancer.
The collaboration between the CBC Health Services and the Government of Cameroon to ensure good health for Cameroonians has spanned across several years, involving other health interventions beyond cancer prevention. These include other areas like HIV, Malaria, tuberculosis, etc. This collaboration, Prof Nkegoum admits, is useful for the National Cancer Control Program and other Epidemic Control Programs in the country. He called on all representatives from the Health Districts present during the meeting to play their role in intensifying HPV vaccination and screening for cervical cancer.
