Background: Breast cancer, the deadliest cancer in women worldwide, is often diagnosed at late stage in Cameroon, with high mortality and dire socioeconomic consequences. We investigated the reasons for breast cancer late diagnosis in Cameroon. Methods: Women (412) were randomly recruited in various locations in the city of Bafoussam, West Region, Cameroon. They self-administered a questionnaire assessing breast cancer awareness. Then, they underwent breast palpation, followed by fine needle aspiration (FNA) when a nodule was found. Results: 65% of the study participants were above 30 years; 80.9% had at least a secondary education; 94.4% had heard about breast cancer and the main source of information was the media (57.3%). Most participants were either uninformed or ill-informed (up to 72%) about breast cancer risk factors, signs, and screening methods, in particular breast self-examination (BSE). Of the 17 women with nodules and other suspect signs, only 6 accepted fine needle aspiration (FNA). Three of the 6 had malignant nodules indicative of Invasive ductal carcinoma low grade (one case) and high grade (2 cases).Conclusions: Women living in Bafoussam are poorly aware of breast cancer screening methods, in particular BSE, and of the importance of early detection. BSE followed by FNA in women with nodules is a simple, yet good screening method to improve early detection and reduce the burden of breast cancer.

Introduction Late diagnosis has been observed as the hallmark of breast cancer in Cameroonian women where over 70% of patients report with either stage III or IV of the disease, with high mortality and dire socioeconomic consequences. The present study was undertaken to assess the awareness of breast cancer, warning signs and screening methods among Health professionals and general population of Douala. Methods Participants included in this study were health practitioners and women randomly selected and enrolled in six health facilities in the city of Douala, Littoral Region, Cameroon. A self-administered questionnaire was designed for each group and aimed at assessing their knowledge about breast cancer, warning signs and screening practices. Then, 616 women underwent breast palpation, followed by fine needle aspiration (FNA) when a nodule was found. Results Out of a total of 737 participants (121 health personnel and 616 women) interviewed, a majority (96.3%) were aware of the disease with the main source of information being the hospital (76.0%), media (47.1%) and vocational training schools (45.4%) for health personnel; medias (39.9%), health professionals (26.1%) and their entourage (21.9%) for the population. Health workforce presented suitable awareness of the risk factors for breast cancer and its clinical signs even though 37.1% of them had misconceptions and myth-based ideas on the origin of the disease. Both the population and health personnel were aware of the possibility of early screening for breast cancer and cited breast self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammography as screening techniques. Nonetheless, screening practice amongst all women is very poor and mainly due to ignorance, high cost of mammography, together with a lack of mastery of the BSE technique and the fear of actually discovering signs of the disease. Conclusion Our findings show lack of awareness and low practice of breast cancer screening amongst women in Douala and highlight the need to raise awareness and provide the right information to the public for early detection of breast cancer.