title: Assessment of Breast Cancer Knowledge among Health Workers in Bangui, Central African Republic: a Cross-sectional Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. High breast cancer mortality has been attributed to lack of public awareness of the disease. Little is known about the level of knowledge of breast cancer in Central African Republic. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of health professionals on breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted among 158 health professionals (27 medical; 131 paramedical) in 17 hospitals in Bangui using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis, Person's χ 2 test and ANOVA were applied to examine associations between variables with <0.05 being considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data analyzed using SPSS version 20 indicates that average knowledge about breast cancer perception of the entire population was 47.6%, diagnosis method 45.5%, treatment 34.3% and risk factors 23.8%. Most respondents (65.8%) agreed that breast cancer is important in the Central African Republic and that family history is a risk factor (44.3%). Clinical assessments and mammography were considered most suitable diagnostic methods, and surgery as the best treatment. The knowledge level was significantly higher among medical than paramedical staff with regard to risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. However the trainee group had very high significant differences of knowledge compared with all other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a very urgent need to update the various training programs for these professionals, with recommendations of retraining. Health authorities must create suitable structures for the overall management of cancer observed as a serious public health problem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Sciences and Technology, Wuhan, China E-mail : pingyin2000@126.com.
authors.forename: Augustin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balekouzou
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Christian Maucler
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pamatika
authors.forename: Sylvain Wilfrid
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nambei
authors.forename: Marceline
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Djeintote
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Doromandji
authors.forename: Andre Richard
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Gouaye
authors.forename: Pascal Gastien
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Yamba
authors.forename: Elysee Ephraim
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Guessy
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ba-Mpoutou
authors.forename: Dieubeni Rawago
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Mandjiza
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Minghui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qing
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mella
authors.forename: Boniface
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koffi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D016504:Breast Self-Examination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002488:Central African Republic; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors