Zeitschrift für Frauengesundheit
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Nurses Perceptions about Reasons for Women’s Non-utilisation of Cervical Cancer Screening Services in Malawi

Melanie Yandakale Hami, Valerie Janet Ehlers and Dirk M. van der Wal

Malawi offers free cervical cancer screening services in some government health institutions, but most cervical cancer cases are diagnosed during the late inoperable stages. This study attempted to identify, from nurse/midwives’ perspectives, reasons why most Malawian women fail to use cervical cancer screening services. A cross-sectional, exploratory, descriptive design was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from the nurses. Purposively selected 14 nurse/midwives were interviewed. Malawian women’s non-utilisation of cervical cancer screening services was reportedly influenced by a shortage of nurse/midwives, inadequate health education, limited resources, unfavourable screening schedules, and geographic distances from these services. These identified factors need to be addressed to enable more women to use the available free cervical cancer screening services in Malawi, so that cervical cancer can get diagnosed during the early stages while effective treatment is available. Unless this happens, most cases of cervical cancer in Malawi will continue to be diagnosed during the terminal inoperable stages of cervical cancer.