Tagne et al. Int J Cancer Clin Res 2020, 7:136 Volume 7 | Issue 2 DOI: 10.23937/2378-3419/1410136 ISSN: 2378-3419 International Journal of Cancer and Clinical Research Open Access Citaton: Tagne SR, Tchakounte CK, Sidje LMG, Ferrand J, Kamdje AHN, et al. (2020) Primary and Sec- ondary Preventon of Cervical Cancer at Two District Health Centres in the West Region of Cameroon. Int J Cancer Clin Res 7:136. doi.org/10.23937/2378-3419/1410136 Accepted: April 23, 2020; Published: April 25, 2020 Copyright: © 2020 Tagne SR, et al. This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. • Page 1 of 7 • Tagne et al. Int J Cancer Clin Res 2020, 7:136 Primary and Secondary Preventon of Cervical Cancer at Two Dis- trict Health Centres in the West Region of Cameroon Tagne Simo Richard 1* , Christan Kamnang Tchakounte 2 , Léonie Marthe Ghomsi Sidje 2 , Jacqueline Ferrand 2 , Armel Hervé Nwabo Kamdje 1 , Paul F Seke Etet 3,4 and Phelix Bruno Telefo 5 1 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Ngaoundere, Cameroon 2 Anatomo-Cytopathology Laboratory, Cameroon Evangelical University Insttute, Cameroon 3 Center for Sustainable Health and Development, Garoua, Cameroon 4 Department of Physiological Sciences and Biochemistry, FMBS, University of Ngaoundere, Cameroon 5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Cameroon *Corresponding author: Dr. TAGNE SIMO Richard, PhD, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Ngaoundere, PO Box 454 Ngaoundere, Cameroon, Tel: 00237-698-61-32 39 RESEARCH ARTiCLE Check for updates Abstract Background: Cervical cancer is a public health concern for women in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 34 over 100,000 are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 23 over 100,000 die yearly. Rationale: We evaluated the knowledge and practices of the female population towards the prevention of cervical cancer in the city of Bafoussam, West Cameroon, consider- ing that poor awareness about the disease and its preven- tion drives its progression in Africa. Methods: Study participants (N = 228 women) were re- cruited in two District Health Centres in Bafoussam. They were administered a questionnaire aimed at asserting their knowledge about cervical cancer, risk factors and preven- tion. Subsequently, cervicovaginal smears were screened and gynaecological signs were assessed. Results: The age of the population was 31.9 ± 8.6 years (from 23 to 60). The most represented age group was [25- 35] (50.88%). Only 89 participants (39.04%) had heard about cervical cancer, 63 (27.63%) had heard about risk factors with only 13 (5.70%) able to name at least one risk factor. Moreover, 72 participants (31.58%) had heard about cervical screening test, 48 (21.05%) were aware about the existence of means of prevention, and only 6 (2.63%) had heard about human papillomavirus (HPV) relationship to cervical cancer or HPV vaccine. An incidence of 07.63% was obtained. The most common reason reported for not at- tending cervical cancer screening was ignorance (68.92%). Conclusions: Our data suggest that there is a real need for raising the awareness about cervical cancer and its preven- tion in the western region of Cameroon. Keywords Awareness, Cervical cancer, Screening, Precancerous le- sion Abbreviations HPV: Human Papillomavirus; PCL: Precancerous Lesions; IVA/IVL: Visual Inspection Tests; UCC: Uterus Cervical Cancer; SCC: Squamous Cell Carcinoma; H-SIL: High- Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion; L-SIL: Low-Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion Introducton Cancer is pathology due to an uncontrolled multpli- caton of cells in the patent, resultng from the inabil- ity of cells to balance cell division by programmed cell death. It disrupts cellular actvites that are necessary for the development and maintenance of multcellular organisms, including growth, diferentaton, apoptosis and tssue integrity [1,2]. The global incidence of cancer was about 14 million new cases per year in 2012, with more than half of the cases in developing countries, and was expected to reach 22 million by 2032, with cancer deaths rising from about 8.2 million to 13 million per year, if the increasing trend was not upset [3,4]. Gynae-