Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding cervical cancer and screening among Haitian health care workers.
It is estimated that Haiti has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the Western Hemisphere. There are currently no sustainable and affordable cervical cancer screening programs in Haiti. The current status of screening services and knowledge of health care professionals was assessed through a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices survey on cervical cancer screening and prevention. It was distributed to Project Medishare for Haiti health care workers (n = 27) in the Central Plateau. The majority (22/27) of participants stated pre-cancerous cells could be detected through screening, however, only four had ever performed a pap smear. All of the participants felt a screening program should be started in their area. Our data establishes that knowledge is fairly lacking among healthcare workers and there is an opportunity to train them in simple, cost effective "screen-and-treat" programs that could have a great impact on the overall health of the population.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emory University, 69 Jesse Hill Junior Drive South East, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. leilah.zahedi@emory.edu.
Leilah
L
Zahedi
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Rd. North East, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. emma.sizemore@emory.edu.
Emma
E
Sizemore
School of Medicine, Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. stuart.malcolm@emory.edu.
Stuart
S
Malcolm
School of Medicine, Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. emily.grossniklaus@emory.edu.
Emily
E
Grossniklaus
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University, 201 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. oonwosu@emory.edu.
Oguchi
O
Nwosu
D000328:Adult; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006205:Haiti; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult