Okolie Elvis Anyaehiechukwu, Aluga David, Anjorin Seun, Ike Felicity Nneoma, Ani Ekene Moses, Nwadike Blessing Ifeoma
School of Health and Life Sciences, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BX, UK.
Department of Public Health, University of Calabar, Calabar 540271, Nigeria.
Ecancermedicalscience. 2022 Apr 11;16:1373. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2022.1373. eCollection 2022.
Cervical cancer is the commonest gynaecological cancer affecting women, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite the availability of evidence on multiple prevention pathways, including vaccination and screening, the cervical cancer burden continues to increase, especially in LMICs. This disease typifies health inequality as more than 85% of related morbidity and mortality occur among women of low socio-economic status residing in developing countries. In Nigeria, cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality. Sadly, Nigeria lacks a tailored cervical cancer control policy or population-based screening programme which is recommended. Consequently, existing screening services are opportunistic, sparsely distributed and have reached less than 9% of eligible Nigerian women. This article highlights the current status of cervical cancer screening in Nigeria, contextualises the role of female nurses and proffers novel approaches to address missed opportunities for screening by leveraging the nursing workforce.
宫颈癌是影响女性的最常见妇科癌症，在低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs）尤为如此。尽管有包括疫苗接种和筛查在内的多种预防途径的证据，但宫颈癌负担仍在增加，尤其是在低收入和中等收入国家。这种疾病体现了健康不平等，因为超过85%的相关发病率和死亡率发生在居住在发展中国家的社会经济地位低下的女性中。在尼日利亚，宫颈癌是癌症发病和死亡的第二大主要原因。可悲的是，尼日利亚缺乏推荐的量身定制的宫颈癌控制政策或基于人群的筛查计划。因此，现有的筛查服务是机会性的，分布稀疏，覆盖的符合条件的尼日利亚女性不到9%。本文强调了尼日利亚宫颈癌筛查的现状，阐述了女性护士的作用，并提出了利用护理人员队伍解决筛查机会错失问题的新方法。
