Cervical Cancer: A narrative Review

The objectives of this descriptive survey were to assess the knowledge and attitude of women attending Aba South Health Center towards cervical cancer. A systematic sampling technique was used to select 218 women of child bearing age attending aba south health center. Data was collected using a validated structured closed ended questionnaire. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the data and hypotheses were tested using chi square test at P≤0.05. Results indicated that majority (17.9%) of the women are between the age of 20-24 while (61%) percent of the respondents had attained tertiary education. (62.4%) of the respondents had a good knowledge of the risk factors of cervical cancer, (66.5%) had no knowledge of its signs and symptoms, (66.1%) also had no knowledge of cervical cancer screening test while (49.5%) had no knowledge of its preventive measures. The respondents had a negative attitude towards cervical cancer were majority (mean score= 3.08) of the respondents were of the opinion that the can never have cervical cancer. There was no significant association between age and the level of knowledge of women towards cervical cancer (P= 0.777) while an association was found between educational level and the level of knowledge of women towards cervical cancer (P=0.007). Also, with P= 0.416 and 0.242 respectively, significant association was not found between age and educational level and the attitudes of women towards cervical cancer. Findings showed a very poor knowledge and negative attitude of respondents towards cervical cancer. This shows that women of child bearing age need to be more effectively educated on the nature of cervical cancer, its risk factors, screening and preventive measures/behaviours. Therefore, there is need for the Government and NGO’s to concentrate on developing polices on health education and promotion particularly targeting risk factors, screening and preventive measures/behaviours of cervical cancer.