Abstract

The treatment of cervical cancer has a good prognosis if diagnosed early. Hence, screening is very vital. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of women on cervical cancer and strategies to enhance its screening uptake in the city of Bamenda, Cameroon. Qualitative study was carried out from July, 2019 to August, 2019. Eight focus group discussions were organized in five different quarters in the city of Bamenda. These quarters and participants were purposively selected and each group constituted 6 to 8 Participants. Ethical clearance and administrative authorization for the study were obtained prior to the study. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis with the help of QDA Miner. A total of 53 study participants took part in this study. Their ages ranged between 21 to 45 years. Most participants did not know about cervical cancer. Their perceived barriers to cervical cancer screening included: inadequate sensitization; financial challenges and embarrassing testing strategies; lack of awareness on the availability of screening centers; poor attitude of health personnel. Proposed strategies to enhance cervical cancer screening were: sensitization of the population, recruitment of more competent staff, testing centers should be located closed to the target population, less embarrassing screening methods should be used, health care workers should demonstrate positive attitudes during care, female staff should manage the screening units, screening cost should be subsidized. Due to the Small purposive sample size and qualitative nature of this study, the findings are not generalizable

Key words: Perception, cervical cancer, enhancing strategies, cervical cancer screening, Cameroon.