Community Health Fairs and Cancer Prevention in Low-Resource Settings: A Global Perspective

Purpose of Review

Health fairs could increase screening uptake and ultimately contribute to reducing inequalities in cancer outcomes between low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and developed countries. Reviews on this topic have been limited to health fairs in the USA. In this paper, we review the scientific literature for evidence that support health fairs as a strategy to improve cancer prevention.

Recent Findings

Studies across the USA consistently reported that health fairs were effective in providing cancer education and screening tests to historically marginalized groups. The studies reviewed were mostly observational and rarely reported data on health outcomes following the health fair. Nigeria, Honduras, Kenya and Uganda were the only countries outside of the USA identified from our review. Compared to the USA, these LMICs showed greater emphasis for promoting screening in the general population and self-administered cervical cancer screening.

Summary

Although the quality of scientific evidence is not convincing, health fairs appear to accelerate cancer prevention in historically marginalised groups. More robust research is needed to examine the role of health fairs in cancer prevention in LMICs; particularly, in small islands.