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Introduction: Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women in sub-Saharan Africa with high mortality rates. As 60%–100% of the patients are diagnosed at late stages, downstaging strategies have been the focus of international discussions to improve survival. The aim of this study was to analyze the entire breast cancer patient´s pathway from first symptom recognition to begin of treatment and survival in Mali to advice on such strategies. Methods: The model of pathways to treatment was used as a framework to assess important time intervals during the patient´s pathway and to match results of the mixed-methods approach. For the quantitative part, N=64 breast cancer patients were interviewed, with a structured questionnaire at the only pathology department in Mali, about breast symptom recognition and first health care visit. Information on begin of treatment and survival were collected at 18-months follow up. Simple Cox regression analyses were performed. To discover additional barriers, three focus group discussions in the communities in Bamako were conducted (2). Results: Median time to first health care visit was 4.8 months, from first health care visit to diagnosis 0.9 months, and for the patients who started treatment (N=46) time from diagnosis to treatment was 1.3 months. Knowledge of breast-self-examination, and correct symptom interpretation increased the chance to visit health care earlier. Shorter duration to first health care visit, working women compared with housewives, and living within Bamako prolonged time to diagnosis. Living outside Bamako, and smaller tumor size (T1/T2) prolonged time to treatment. Visit of a traditional healer, and larger tumor size (T3/T4) shortened survival time, while time to first health visit, and subsequent time to diagnosis had no influence on survival. In the focus groups, low level of breast cancer knowledge, mistrust in the community health care centers, and economic hardship were reported as additional barriers to first health care visit. Low quality of health care services, and lack of social support were reported as barriers to diagnosis and high costs, and lack of specialized services for treatment begin. Discussion: Patients are diagnosed with late stage diseases, due to low knowledge of breast cancer. A weak health care system and out of pocket expenses discourage patients to seek health care, to have diagnostic services, and to start treatment. Conclusion: The continuum of care has to be warranted for the majority of patients to benefit from down-staging strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WHO affirms that trained, supervised, and supported community health workers (CHWs) can deliver high-quality health services effectively and has called for documentation of enabling factors, needs, and implementation strategies of successful CHW programs. In response, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative Impact Malaria Project conducted a study to document implementation approaches, best practices, and lessons learned for quality improvement (QI) of community-based fever management in Madagascar, Malawi, and Mali. The team conducted 10 key informant interviews (KIIs) with individuals at national, regional, and district levels using an open-ended interview guide tailored to each level, and a desk review of documents and materials related to community-based QI. Each country's community health landscape and QI approaches were summarized into four categories identified during the KIIs (training, supervision, coaching/mentoring, and review meetings) and compared. Results found that Madagascar, Malawi, and Mali all had well-defined community health strategies that include QI, but countries could not extend their full package of community-based QI approaches to all CHWs as a result of limited human and financial resources. Vertical funding for health programs limits the scope and coverage of QI approaches, especially at the community level. Recommendations from key informants for strengthening community-based QI included integrating QI approaches to improve cost efficiency, to define roles and responsibilities more clearly, to engage communities and all health system levels in implementation, and to digitize QI tools. Increased financial and skilled human resources are needed for community-based QI activities to achieve their intended effect.

Improving the quality of malaria clinical case management in health facilities is key to improving health outcomes in patients. The U.S. President's Malaria Initiative Impact Malaria Project has supported implementation of the Outreach Training and Supportive Supervision (OTSS) approach in 11 African countries to improve the quality of malaria care in health facilities through the collection and analysis of observation-based data on health facility readiness and health provider competency in malaria case management. We conducted a secondary analysis of longitudinal data collected during routine supervision in Cameroon (April 2021-March 2022), Mali (October 2020-December 2021), and Niger (November 2020-September 2021) using digitized checklists to assess how service readiness affects health worker competencies in managing patients with fever correctly and providing those with confirmed uncomplicated malaria cases with appropriate treatment and referral. Linear or logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the effect of facility readiness and its components on observed health worker competencies. All countries demonstrated significant associations between health facility readiness and malaria case management competencies. Data from three rounds of OTSS visits in Cameroon, Mali, and Niger showed a statistically significant positive association between greater facility readiness scores (including the availability of commodities, materials, and trained staff) and health worker competency in case management. These findings provide evidence that health worker performance is likely affected by the tools and training available to them. These results reinforce the need for necessary tools and properly trained staff if high-quality malaria case management services are to be delivered at health facilities.

Background: Information on pathways of women seeking diagnostic services due to breast- related symptoms can help highlight challenges related to the healthcare system in improving early diagnosis of breast cancer., Methods: We retrospectively analysed the entire patient pathway, from first symptom recognition via initial healthcare visit up to final diagnosis at the pathology service in Mali. Data from questionnaire-based structured patient interviews (n = 124) were used to calculate time to first healthcare visit (median 91 days) and consecutive time to diagnosis (median 21 days) and to extract information on type of initially visited healthcare facility (community healthcare centre, referral hospital, tertiary hospital, private clinic). Median time to first healthcare visit and time to diagnosis and type of initially-visited healthcare facility were cross-tabulated with patient characteristics. An additional survey among (n = 30) medical doctors in the community healthcare centres and referral hospitals in Bamako was conducted to understand current knowledge and referral practice with respect to female patients with breast-related symptoms., Results: Patients who initially visited private clinics had the shortest time to first healthcare visit (median 44 days), but the longest time to diagnosis (median 170 days). Patients visiting community healthcare centres and referral hospitals took longest for a first healthcare visit (median 153 and 206 days, respectively), but the time to diagnosis was shorter (median 95 and 7 days, respectively). The majority of patients (45%) initially visited a tertiary hospital; these patients had shortest total time to diagnosis (median 56 days health seeking and 8 days diagnostic time), but did not follow the recommended pathway for patients in the pyramidal healthcare system in Mali. The doctors' survey showed lower breast cancer knowledge in the community healthcare centres than in the referral hospitals. However, most doctors felt able to recognise suspected cases of cancer and referred patients directly to a hospital., Conclusions: The role of different healthcare facilities in ensuring triage of patients with breast-related symptoms needs to be defined before any early detection initiatives are implemented. Especially at the entry level of the healthcare system, the access and quality of health services need to be strengthened.

Objective: To analyse patient and healthcare system related factors influencing the time to first healthcare visit, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa and the impact on survival in order to advise on early detection strategies., Methods: A prospective hospital cohort study was conducted at the only pathology department in Mali, at the University Hospital in Bamako. All the female patients with a breast cancer diagnosis between January and April 2016 were interviewed with a structured questionnaire (N = 64) to gather information about breast symptom recognition and first healthcare visit. Information on beginning of treatment and survival were collected at 18-months follow-up. Simple Cox regression analyses were performed., Results: The median time to first healthcare visit was 4.8 months, from first healthcare visit to diagnosis was 0.9 months and for the patients who started treatment (N = 46) the time from diagnosis to treatment was 1.3 months. Knowledge of breast-self-examination and correct symptom interpretation increased the chance of an earlier healthcare visit. Prolonged time to diagnosis was found with shorter duration to first healthcare visit, for working women compared to housewives and for those living within Bamako. Living outside Bamako and smaller tumour size (T1/T2) prolonged time to treatment. Visit of a traditional healer and larger tumour size (T3/T4) shortened survival time, whereas time to first healthcare visit and subsequent time to diagnosis had no influence on survival., Conclusions: Down-staging strategies are only useful if the continuum of breast cancer care is warranted for the majority of patients., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The closure anomalies of the peritoneal-vaginal canal include several clinical entities, which are at the origin of various symptomatology., Objective: To study the anatomo-clinical and therapeutic aspects of pathologies of the peritoneal-vaginal canal., Materials and Method: This was a prospective study from January 1 st to December 31 st , 2015 carried out in the pediatric surgery department of University Hospital Gabriel Touré. It covered all children aged 0-15 years old with a pathology of the peritoneal-vaginal canal operating in the department during the study period. This study did not include cases that were not operated on or not seen during the study period., Results: During the study period, 2,699 children were treated in pediatric surgery, of which 150 cases of pathology of the peritoneal-vaginal canal had a hospital frequency of 5.5%. The average age was 3.25 ± 9.63 years. The sex ratio was 14. The reason for consultation was intermittent or permanent inguinal or inguino-scrotal swelling in all children. The pathology was discovered by the parents during the pushing efforts in 46.7%. Inguino-scrotal swelling was found on physical examination in 40% of cases. The right side was reached in 60% of the cases. Hernia accounted for 80.6% of these pathologies. We recorded 31 cases of strangulation and 11 cases of craze. Immediate operative follow-up was simple in 92% of patients. This rate was 96% after 6 months., Conclusion: Pathologies of the peritoneal-vaginal canal are very common in pediatric surgical practice. The first place of these pathologies is occupied by hernia. They preferentially affect male infants., (Le comitée de rédaction se réserve le droit de revoyer aux auteurs avant toute soumission à l'avis des lecteurs les manuscrits qui ne seraient pas conformes à ces modalités de présentation. En outre il leur conseille de sonserver un examplaire du manuscrit, des figures et des tableaux.)

Non-neuromeningeal cryptococcosis forms resulting from disseminated infection are rarely reported in African literature and are non-documented in Malian medical ward. We report two clinical observations. Case 1: a 26-year-old patient, carrying the HIV-1 infection, in which the clinical examination revealed skin lesions simulating molluscum contagiosum and functional impairment of the lower limbs. Radiography of the lumbar spine showed vertebral osteolysis on L4-L5. Cryptococcal research remained negative in the CSF but positive at histological examination of the skin lesions and in pathological products of lumbosacral drainage. The treatment with fluconazole and ARV led to a favorable outcome. Case 2: a 42-year-old patient, admitted for fever cough, known for his non-compliance to ARVs and in which the examination found a syndrome of pleural condensation and a painful swelling of the outer third of the right clavicle (around the acromio-clavicular joint). Paraclinical investigations concluded in osteolysis of the acromial end of the right clavicle and an image of the right lung with abundant effusion. Cryptococcal research was positive in the pleural effusion and in the product of aspiration of acromio-clavicular tumefaction, negative in CSF. It seems important to think of a cryptococcal etiology even in the absence of clinical meningeal signs in front of any cutaneous sign and any fluctuating swelling in HIV+ patient., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: In West Africa, trends and risk factors for breast cancer (BC) have been rarely studied., Methods: Here we have analyzed trends of BC over two periods in two population-based cancer registries, in Mali-Bamako (1987-1997; 1998-2009) and in The Gambia (1988-1997; 1998-2006). We have conducted a case-control study (n = 253 cases, 249 controls) on risk factors associated with reproductive life stratified by menopausal status in Bamako., Results: Between the two periods, BC incidence rates increased by 20% (incidence rate ratio (IRR) 1.20 (95% CI [1.07-1.35])) in Bamako, with an annual percentage change of 2% (95% CI [0.4-3.6]). The increase was of 30% in women under 55 years (IRR 1.30 (95% CI [1.14-1.60])). A similar pattern was observed in The Gambia for women under 50 years (IRR 1.47 (95% CI [1.07-2.01])). Overall, pre-menopausal breast cancer was predominant in both countries. In contrary to what is well established, case-control study showed that late age at menarche (>14 years) increased the risk of BC among pre-menopausal women (OR: 2.02 (95% CI [1.08-3.78])) while it tended to be protective in post-menopausal women (OR: 0.61 (95% CI [0.29-1.29])). Later age at a first pregnancy (>20 years) was associated with a reduction of risk in pre-menopausal women (OR: 0.41 (95% CI [0.18-0.89]))., Conclusion: These results indicate that the burden of pre-menopausal BC is increasing in West African countries. These cancers appear to be associated with distinct reproductive risk factors, highlighting the need for better understanding the biological bases of early BC in African populations., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To describe human papillomavirus (HPV) distribution in invasive cervical carcinoma (ICC) from Mali and Senegal and to compare type-specific relative contribution among sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries., Methods: A multicentric study was conducted to collect paraffin-embedded blocks of ICC. Polymerase chain reaction, DNA enzyme immunoassay and line probe assay were performed for HPV detection and genotyping. Data from SSA (Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda) and 35 other countries were compared., Results: One hundred and sixty-four ICC cases from Mali and Senegal were tested from which 138 were positive (adjusted prevalence = 86.8%; 95% CI = 79.7-91.7%). HPV16 and HPV18 accounted for 57.2% of infections and HPV45 for 16.7%. In SSA countries, HPV16 was less frequent than in the rest of the world (49.4%vs. 62.6%; P < 0.0001) but HPV18 and HPV45 were two times more frequent (19.3%vs. 9.4%; P < 0.0001 and 10.3%vs. 5.6%; P < 0.0001, respectively). There was an ecological correlation between HIV prevalence and the increase of HPV18 and the decrease of HPV45 in ICC in SSA (P = 0.037 for both)., Conclusion: HPV16/18/45 accounted for two-thirds of the HPV types found in invasive cervical cancer in Mali and Senegal. Our results suggest that HIV may play a role in the underlying HPV18 and HPV45 contribution to cervical cancer, but further studies are needed to confirm this correlation., (© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Introduction: Pleurisy represents a worrying situation because of the difficulty of aetiological diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of pleural puncture biopsy (PPB) in the diagnosis of pleurisy., Methods: A prospective study of the contribution of the pleural puncture biopsy in the pulmonary service of Bamako (Mali) from 2005 to 2009. PPB was used in the investigation of exudative, non-purulent pleurisy of unknown aetiology. Castelin biopsy forceps were used., Results: Pleurisy was the reason for 20% of the total admissions of 6374 patients. The PPB was performed in 390 patients or 30.6% of the cases of pleurisy. The HIV test was performed in 341 patients (87.4%), of whom 72 cases (21.1%) were positive. The pleural biopsies were: lymphocytic (68.7%), mixed cellular (17.1%). Histological interpretation was possible in 367 biopsy specimens, a yield of 94.1%. Tuberculous granulomata were found in 65.1% with a close relationship to HIV status (P<0.004). Pleural cancer was found in 16.1%., Conclusion: The PPB is easy to perform at a low cost. It permits the diagnosis of tuberculous and neoplastic pleurisy, particularly in low income countries with a high prevalence of TB/HIV., (Copyright © 2011 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical, anatomic and therapeutic aspects of laryngitis--pharyngeal cancers in Mali. It was a prospective, descriptive and cross sectional study which was help in the ORL and cervical facial department of the university hospital center Gabriel TOURE between April 2006 and March 2007. The study looked at 18 patients hospitalized for larynx or hypo pharynx cancer, diagnostic was confirmed histologically. The parameters (age, other favorable features, clinical signs, endoscopic aspect of the tumor, histological type and treatment type) have been analyzed. Men were the most affected (66.7%), with an average age of 58.17 year old. Chronic smoking has been the most evocated factor of risk (55.17) with an average consumation of 39.5 P/A. A delay in consultation was noticed (60% with a period greater than 1 year after the first symptoms appear). The burgeoning aspect (66.7%) end the carcinoma epidemic type of the tumor (94.7%) have dominated the anatomy pathologic table. Only 27.8% of patients had surgery because of late diagnosis.

Cervix cancer remains a public health problem in developing countries. These results are an assessment for multicentric study based on visual inspection of the cervix after application of acetiq acid (VIA) and lugol's iodine (VILI). The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility and the impact of this screening in the community health centres "CSCOM" in the district of Bamako. It was a prospective and multicentric study through 8 CSCOM, 3 Reference Centres "CSRéf", Hôpital Gabriel Touré (HGT) and National Institute of Public Health (INRSP) in Bamako. During 28 months, 5016 women aged through 25-49 years were screened. After their consent and questionnaire filling, the patient is comfortably settled for visual test. The repartition of screened patients by health level is: CSCOM (19.24% : 965/5016), CSRéf (48.64% : 2440/5016), HGT (32.12% : 1611/5016). In general, the positivity of tests was: 5.2% (VIA) and 6.8% (VILI). The positive women at the CSCOM level were oriented to the CSRéf or the HGT for the colposcopy, possible biopsy or care. At all 177 biopsies were done, and histological diagnosis were: 67 dysplasias, 3 early invasive carcinomas, 69 invasive carcinomas and 38 inflammatory metaplasic lesions or nonconclusives aspects. Patients with dysplasias or cancers were treated by cryotherapy, loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP), cold-knife conization or surgery. This study showed that screening of cervical cancer by visual inspection is workable at CSCOM level. We wish a large diffusion of the method to the whole of the country.