Abstract B31: Knowledge of cervical cancer screening among market women in sub-Saharan Africa: Nigerian experience

Abstract

Abstract This study focuses on knowledge of cervical cancer screening among market women in selected markets in Ibadan, Nigeria. The objective of the study was to ascertain the knowledge of market women on cervical cancer. One hundred participants were selected from four markets in Ibadan, Nigeria to respond to a multi-choice–free response questionnaire designed to obtain information on their knowledge of cervical cancer screening. For this study, a non-experimental design was used to find out the level of knowledge of cervical screening method among the market women in Ibadan. The research design adopted for this study was purely descriptive. The research study was carried out in four major markets which are Bodija, Sango, Gate, and Gbagi markets in Ibadan. The sampling technique adopted in the study was the simple random sampling. The respondents were assured of the confidentiality of the data. On the respondent awareness of cervical cancer screening before, only 26 (26%) of the respondents strongly agreed that they have heard about cervical cancer screening while 15 (15%) were undecided and 59 (59%) have never heard about it, which means that majority of the respondents were not aware of cervical cancer screening. Furthermore, an importance of cervical screening was identified among 94 (94%) of women who were educated but 96 (96%) of these educated women have not been screened before, and 74 (74%) of the women were ready to be screened whether it is free or not. In addition, 97 (97%) of the women have a positive attitude that screening will help in detection of cervical cancer and only 48 (48%) are aware that early treatment of minor cervical cancer can prevent its reoccurrence. 92 (92%) agreed that it will be very good if the Government should campaign especially on mass media just like HIV (AIDs) for all to know about cancer of the cervix and also that there is treatment for it if it is detected on time, while 7 (7%) are undecided and 1(1%) disagreed. Considering whether the awareness of cervical cancer screening is low, 79 (79%) agreed that the awareness is very low and it will be good if the primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions can pass the information across to the community, while 18 (18%) were undecided and 3 (3%) disagreed. Nigerian government and policy makers need to sensitive the general public about cervical cancer screening and make the service widely available. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2011;4(10 Suppl):B31.