Developing political will and building partnerships to support a community-based health promotion program for breast and cervical cancer control and prevention in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Background: Tanzania has one the highest age-adjusted incidence rates of cervical cancer. The incidence of breast cancer is increasing although somewhat hard to estimate since there is no population level cancer registry. There is a paucity of research regarding population level scale up of breast and cervical cancer prevention in Tanzania.

Methods: Data for this cross-sectional qualitative study included face-to-face interviews and a focus group discussion. Nineteen stakeholders from the Tanzanian Ministry of Health completed interviews. The Community Health Management Team of the Kinondoni District participated in a focus group discussion (n=10). Both face-to-face interviews and the focus group discussion were conducted to determine political will and feasibility of developing a community-based breast and cervical cancer control and prevention program.

Results: Qualitative themes elucidated political will for the development of a community-based cervical cancer program, the need to improve health infrastructure and capacity to promote screening and treatment protocols, and development of public/private partnerships for cancer control. Stakeholders expressed a need to focus on cervical cancer prevention due to the high disease burden, the existing treatment capacity, and lack of pathologist and access to mammography.

Conclusions: There is political will and strong support for public/private partnerships to develop a community-based pilot program for cervical cancer control and prevention. However, the immediate priority is on the health services infrastructure. Population level scale up of screen and treat protocols in Dar Es Salaam are limited at this time¬–pilot programs may provide an alternative approach and help increase capacity for services.