Can community awareness campaigns in low-resource areas improve early diagnosis of colorectal cancer?

In low-resource regions such as Nigeria, most people with colorectal cancer are diagnosed too late for curative treatment options.

A community awareness campaign in the country helped clinicians detect both early-stage and advanced colorectal cancer in patients who had not been aware that they should be screened. That’s according to a study published in Cancer.

Community campaign and study details

For the study, investigators conducted a six-month community awareness campaign, with information, education, and communication materials—including bilingual flyers, posters, banners, radio jingles, and social media—about colorectal cancer symptoms and risk factors. These materials were distributed during community events, clinic visits, and through religious institutions.

Among 497 participants, 322 completed surveys both before and after the campaign. Only 16.8% had awareness of colorectal cancer before the campaign, but 96.9% had awareness after the campaign. Good knowledge of colorectal cancer risk factors and symptoms also increased significantly.

Screening outcomes and diagnoses

Individuals with indicators of colorectal cancer based on baseline survey results were referred by health care workers and patient navigators to an Early Diagnosis Clinic.

Among 329 individuals who went to the Early Diagnosis Clinic, 168 (51.1%) were identified as having risk factors for colorectal cancer (such as unexplained changes in bowel habits or anal ulcerations, or a family history of colorectal cancer), and 116 (73.0%) completed a colonoscopy.

Colorectal cancer was diagnosed in four patients (3.4%), with two having stage 0, one having stage II, and one having stage III disease. Precancerous polyps (advanced adenomas) were identified in 11% of the patients who underwent colonoscopy.

“This program is the first of its kind to demonstrate a program in sub-Saharan Africa that includes both community education and symptoms that trigger navigation to a colorectal cancer early diagnosis clinic to prevent cancer in patients with advanced adenomas and identify colorectal cancer in curable stages,” said senior author T. Peter Kingham, MD, of the African Research Group for Oncology, in Nigeria, and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York City.