Is Knowledge Gap on Cancer of the Cervix Increasing the Incidence of the early onset Cancer amongst HIV Negative Young Women in Western Kenya - A Case Study of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital

Abstract

In many Low- and middle-income countries HIV and cervical cancer have always been interlinked, as HIV patients are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer at a young age. The policy in Kenya is to screen all HIV positive women for cancer of the cervix. Objective: This study aimed to explore the increase in incidences of advanced cervical cancer in young HIV Negative women, as compared to HIV Positive, presenting at the hospital. Methodology: A review of hospital records of all patients aged 13-35 years presenting with Cancer of the Cervix regardless of HIV status at time of diagnosis in the period 2012 - 2019 of the study and purposive active recruitment of same age set in the 2020 – 2021period. Findings: After the introduction of routine screening of HIV +VE women, there was an increase of 18% of routine early screening of cancer of the cervix in the young HIV +VE patients as compared to their HIV –VE counterparts, from 10% to 28% in the 2012-2019 and 2020-2021 study periods. Conclusion: Our conclusion is that apparently due to the early routine cancer of the cervix screening of young HIV positive women, cases are being diagnosed very early, in the pre-cancer and early stages, leading to early treatment and remission, in turn leading to the increased contribution of young HIV negative women with advanced cancer of the cervix.