not result in a correct diagnosis or treatment, whether by a registered professional nurse, medical practitioner or traditional healer. The reasons for this ranged from their being asymptomatic, the nature of cervical cancer during the initial stages, the lack of suspicion and insight on the part of professionals during consultations, and the fact that some women did not report their main symptoms during a consultation.
Willingness to be diagnosed, mismanagement and traditional healers
The women repeatedly sought health care before they were eventually diagnosed and treated. Their willingness to be diagnosed must be considered as a positive finding of this study and acted upon to the maximum by the health care system. In pursuit of a diagnosis, all but one woman initially consulted someone in the health care system. Their preferred health service provider was not a traditional healer, but rather the formal health care system.
Unfortunately, willingness to be diagnosed did not lead to a diagnosis before a lot of time had lapsed. The majority of the participants were mismanaged by health care professionals, from the first consultation onwards, even though they were already experiencing signs and symptoms of cervical cancer (Table 2).
"The first time I went to the clinic, nobody listened to me. They gave me pain tablets. After 1 went to the clinic, monthly, from