Abstract

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE TOWARDS CERVICAL CANCER AND SCREENING FOR CERVICAL CANCER AMONG JUGAL HOSPITAL STAFFS, IN HARARI REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA, 2017

Arif Hussen* and Fethi Mahdi

ABSTRACT

Background: Cervical cancer was the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer with an estimated 527,600 cases and the fourth leading cause of cancer death with 265,700 deaths among women worldwide in 2012. However, in developing countries, it is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer after breast cancer and the third leading cause of cancer death after breast and lung cancers. In Ethiopia among the general population about 33.6% of women are estimated to harbor cervical HPV infection at a given time. From those, 7,095 new cervical cancer cases are diagnosed annually. Cervical cancer ranks as the 2nd most frequent cancer among women between 15 and 44 years of age. Study showed that cervical cancer screening coverage in Ethiopia is one of the lowest in the world. Available data show that the Ethiopian national average coverage of cervical cancer screening is 0.6% and is even lower (0.4%) in rural areas. Objective: The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice concerning cervical cancer among female health professionals in jugal hospital. Methodology: An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from October–November 2017 among a total of 103 female staffs, only 93 were cooperative. Structured self administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Univariate, bivaraite and multivariate analysis were used. Results: Lower than 15% of the respondents had good knowledge, 83 (89%) staffs heard about cervical cancer. and only Only8 (8.6%) were screened in their lifetime for cervical cancer. Lack of information about cervical cancer (said that they are healthy) was the most reported reason for not attending cervical cancer screening. Level of knowledge of cervical carcinoma was not associated with attitude on screening, those with good knowledge also was not significantly associated with practice. Conclusion and recommendation: There is Limited knowledge about cervical cancer, There is Very low rate of screening for premalignant cervical lesions and The most reasons for low practice of screening are, being health and lack of information. So Efforts to promote cervical cancer screening among women should focus on informing women of their susceptibility to cervical cancer and encouraging a belief that active and regular screening can detect the pre-cancerous stage, hence enabling early treatment and prevention of cancer development, Jugal Hospital should create awareness regarding cervical cancer screening since screening services is being given at these facility and Further study should be conducted at the community and national level to target all females and other findings.

Keywords: Cervical cancer Univariate, bivaraite and other findings.