Early Detection of Paediatric Cancer: Equipping Primary Health‑Care Workers in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Paediatric cancer patients in Nigeria continue to arrive at specialist centers with advanced‑stage disease. The reasons for this are myriad, not least of which are delays in detection, diagnosis, and referral for treatment. While delayed presentation has often been reported from the perspective of delays from caregivers’ decisions, institutional deficiencies in the health care system may account for an unmeasured portion of the factors leading to delayed presentation. This project centered around training of health‑care professionals at community level to detect potential paediatric cancer signs and refer appropriately.

Aim: The aim of the study is to access the immediate impact of training on early detection and referral of possible paediatric cancer cases in the community and primary level health care workers and professionals in the Southwest Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective review of the training impact in three South‑Western states in Nigeria. Scores before and after the training were analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistics, version 23 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).

Results: A total of 732 primary health care workers were trained. In the pre assessment evaluations, 44.8% of participants reported that cancer did not occur in children, 47.2% did not know any referral pathway for a child suspected of cancer. The post training assessment indicated an improvement in participants’ understanding of common paediatric cancers types and how to refer a suspected case for specialist diagnosis and attention. Mean scores before and after the training were 3.5/15 and 12.5/15, respectively.

Conclusion: Training health-care professionals working at the community level can have an immediate and measurable impact on early detection and referral for paediatric cancers, as seen by the difference in pre training and post training assessment scores. There remains a need for continuous training to ensure early referral and ultimately increase survival indices of children diagnosed with cancer in Nigeria.