A story-telling cloth approach to motivating cervical cancer screening in Mali

Ninety percent of deaths from Cervical cancer (CC) caused by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) occur in low- and middle-income countries. CC is the 2nd most common cause of cancer in women in West Africa, where 12,000 women develop cervical cancer and more than 6,000 die from the disease, annually. While HPV vaccination and CC screening have dramatically reduced the incidence of CC and mortality from CC in developed countries, prevention of CC in West Africa is often limited to visual inspection of the cervix and surgical intervention. In previous studies of CC in Mali, we demonstrated that knowledge about the link between HPV and CC is limited, and that screening for CC is often delayed until women are symptomatic. For this intervention, a story-telling cloth (West African-style printed pagne) was designed for use as a starting point for educational sessions run by community health workers. Community outreach using the cloth during 6 months of 2015 resulted in a 5-fold higher uptake of cervical cancer screening and increased awareness of the potential to vaccinate adolescents against CC. 3,271 women were motivated to visit one of five participating clinics for CC screening, where a mere 600 women had been screened during the previous year. This study shows that a comprehensive, visual, community-centered education campaign coupled with coordinated support for local clinics improves uptake of CC screening.

[Risk factors and management of uterine rupture in a 1st reference structure in Mali: case of the Bougouni health district]

The objective was to assess the risk factors for and to suggest therapeutic aspects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We carried out a case-control study at the Bougouni Reference health center in 2019.

RESULTS

From January to December 31, 2019; out of 1161 deliveries, 43 uterine rupture were recorded, 3.7% corresponding to one uterine rupture for 27 deliveries. Patients 35 years and older were more affected by uterine rupture (44.2%) with ORaIC95% = 6.3 [1.5 - 26.3]. Obstetric evacuations had an ORaIC95% = 25.6 [7.8-83.7]. All of the patients were housewives (97.7%) versus (82.3%) controls with ORaIC95% = 8.9 (1.1-69). Pauciparous and multiparous had an ORaIC95% = 6.2 [1.8 - 20.3] and 4.1 [1.3 - 12.9], respectively. The uterine scar (20.9%) of cases versus 8.1% of controls had a 95% ORaIC95% = 2.9 [1.1 - 8.7]. Indeed the absence of ANC was a risk factor, ORaIC95% = 3.0 [1.3 - 6.9]. The time to uterine rupture was < 6 hours in 95%. In fact 34 complete uterine rupture (79.1%) and 9 incomplete uterine rupture (20.9) were noted. Only 2.3% of cases gave birth vaginally. Treatment of uterine rupture was based on surgery (100%) supplemented by shock (51.2%) of cases and infection (100%) of cases.

CONCLUSION

Uterine rupture is common in our countries under medical care. Its effective prevention involves strategies aimed at acting on risk factors.